The Point of Incandescence
by Midnight Angel414
Summary: She's known him all her life, traveled with him for so long but left on Earth to live a human life ten years ago, Addie Hunter is now looking for the adventure but not the kind that could possibly kill her. Can the Doctor actually save her or will she face the same fate her family had when she first met the man with the funny blue box? 10th Doctor/OC. M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello there! This is my first Doctor Who fic so first off please be nice. I have been toying with this idea for quite some time and I really, really hope it is as good as I think it is. So please review and do be kind. If you must point out an error or give criticism please do be nice about it! _

_Disclaimer: I own nothing that you actually recognize. They belong to their respective owners. I am merely using them for my own entertainment. If you don't recognize it than it is most likely from my mind. I do own Addie Hunter and the general plot. _

_On with the show!_

__**The Point of Incandescence **

****Chapter One

Parties.

Addie Hunter hated them with a burning passion. It wasn't the drinking that bothered her, in fact she enjoyed drinking, which was why she was nursing a bottle of beer while she sat by the window watching the street below. It wasn't the loud noises either. Even the large congregation of people wasn't so much of a bother to her. Having spent much of her life with only one other person, being around people was a Godsend.

No, it wasn't all that which made her hate parties.

It was the fake atmosphere that came with parties that bothered her. She wasn't what someone would call a wallflower but she wasn't a social butterfly either. She was what some would call a people watcher even when she was in the middle of a group talking a mile a minute. So at parties she knew what really went on, what people were really doing, and what they said once someone left the room.

People had a tendency to lie. Some meant it, some didn't. Sometimes a lie was told to keep someone safe or make them feel better. Other times the lies were intentional, meant to sting and stab until it got to the point that the person on the receiving end left in tears or someone was on the ground bleeding. The lies weren't always verbal. From time to time it was a fake smile, a smile that would hide a terrible truth. Other times it was a look, a comment, an outfit, or a wave of the hand.

Within everything, Addie could find a lie because she could see it on every face she saw. She also heard what people said. Someone was given a compliment or praised to their face, as soon as their back were turned the rumors and gossip flared like the flames of a wildfire. Those fires were never put out, dimmed from time to time, but flaring later when something else appeared.

She hated lies and because of this she hated parties, or at least the one she was stuck at right in that moment. So to keep herself out of the melee that was music, drinking, and eating she settled herself on the window seat where she watched the city below as cars rushed in dull streaks on the street. The sky above was heavy with snow clouds, a common sight in December. Before she knew it she would be walking through fluffy white flakes that would later make life hell when it iced over her car and the sidewalks she used to get to work or her flat. It didn't matter, she had always loved the snow.

Addie sighed lightly taking a deep swig on her beer. It had gone warm but still it didn't taste all that bad, well that might have been the influence of two other beers talking.

"You always seem to be the life of the party," one of Addie's close friend said sarcastically as she sat herself across from the other woman.

Addie rolled her eyes at the black haired woman. "I didn't even want to come Kelly. I don't like parties. You know that." She finished off her beer.

"You didn't have to come," Kelly said with a huff of air and annoyance. "No one forced you to be here."

There was a snort as Addie tried not to laugh loudly. "Oh course I was forced. Kelly, you and Grant literally kidnapped me, forced me into pretty but weather appropriate clothing and then put me in heels, and finally set me loose here. I had no choice in the matter."

Kelly rolled her blue eyes in exaggeration. "You've always had a choice," she said before walking away to join the mass of bodies crammed into the two story townhouse.

Addie sighed again thumping her head back against the wall while continuing to look out the window. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but she would have rather been anywhere else in the universe than at that party.

Though it was rude, and she had been raised to not be rude unless the situation called for it, she stood from her seat leaving the empty beer bottle where she had sat it moments ago. She weaved in and out of the throng of hot bodies until she spotted Kelly talking to some bloke. She motioned with her head towards the back hall where no one would be.

"What?" Kelly questioned in a loud voice as they passed by the DJ's table.

"I've got a headache, so I'm just going to go. I apologize for not having been any fun tonight." Addie gave a not so apologetic shrug towards her best friend. "See you Monday?"

"Sure," Kelly growled but allowed her friend to slip back into the crowd.

Without so much as a hint of guilt, Addie weaved through the group apologizing as she went when she bumped into someone or stepped on some feet. She murmured a thank you as the door was opened as she approached it. Never in her life had she been to a party that wasn't only annoying but polite. Usually a party was annoying and rude.

Once out on the street she smiled, finally feeling the bonds breaking. Being stuck inside was never something she enjoyed. She liked being outside not in areas where there were tons of people gathered around to the point where she felt like a sardine in a tin can.

So now, out in the open, she felt so much freer and so much better than she had in the last few hours. It was cold, as she knew it would be, but that didn't quite matter. She pulled her coat closer around her neck blocking out the cold breeze that blow through the city. Like she noticed before, the sky was heavy with snow clouds and as she walked slowly down the street the fat, fluffy flakes drifted down in a lazy fashion that had a grin spreading across her face.

She continued to walk, her black heeled boots clicking less often as a thin sheet of snow began to coat the concrete beneath her feet. She had to be careful as the risk of slipping increased with every flake and every step. She often tripped in her heels to begin with and adding snow and ice didn't help her balance any. If it had only been rain she would have slipped off the shoes and walked barefoot but with the cold she didn't want to risk getting frostbite on her feet. She would deal with a twisted ankle if she had to, she rather liked her feet.

Addie crossed her arms over her chest and shivered against the cold. She might like winter but she wasn't quite a fan of the cold itself. She had been to places far colder than where she was now but still it felt like she was living in the arctic. She wished she'd brought a scarf with her but she hadn't thought of it. It had still been rather warm when she left for the party but now the temperature had plummeted and brought the first real lasting snow of the season.

As she walked she thought. At twenty five years old she felt so much older. There were stories in her mind, songs in her heart, things she could never say or tell anyone but Lily, her adopted sister. Not even her adopted parents knew what she knew though they had a kind of knowledge about everything. It was actually nights like this when she wished with all her heart there was someone, well a certain someone, she could talk to. She wanted so badly to relive those fun and odd moments as well as the boring and dangerous times. Yet that would never happen, or at least it would seem that way.

A soft sigh, something she seemed to be doing a lot of that night, whispered through her lips as she watched a car lazily roll from a near by parking lot of some late night shop. She had nothing to worry about in this neighborhood. Nothing, besides the occasional theft, happened in the area.

Nothing until right that instant.

She heard noises coming from down the street, in a back ally in which she had just passed. At first she paid no mind to the noise passing it off as just the sound of a stray tomcat chasing a mouse or a female cat. It was a normal sound, a natural one she heard from time to time when walking the streets at any given time during the day. Though at three in the morning it seemed more likely that she would hear the sounds of nighttime creatures roaming around darkened allies.

When the thumping noise sounded again it stopped her in her tracks. It wasn't distant any longer. It sounded like something come out of a nightmare she wasn't willing to relieve right that moment. She felt her heart race increase. She was scared, though the fear itself should have been unfounded. Fear hadn't played a large part in her life for nearly more than a decade.

She kept her steps steady even as her pulse raced, as her heart beat in such a rapid manner that had her worrying for her own safety. She thought, at first, this was all just a memory coming to life after a couple of beers. That was the main reason she refused to drink much outside of her own home. Drinking lead to her memories waking leaving her feeling as though something terrible, something from her past, was out to get her.

When Addie heard nothing for several minutes as she walked she steadied herself. The fear receded into the back of her mind, still nibbling just at the edges of her conscious. This lull in her emotions allowed her to take a deep breath and put her mind on a different train of thought.

Her moment of peace evaporated as soon as it had begun. The thumping was now a banging and it had gotten closer behind her. She nearly jumped as her pulse shot up and her eyes widened. She couldn't breathe for a moment as the pain in her chest ripped through her. She felt like a caged animal being stalked by some unknown predator. She was a sitting duck and nothing she could do in the very moment could keep her from staying rooted in her spot. Her brain might have been telling her to move but her feet wouldn't listen.

Running was second nature to her in situations like this but she couldn't. How could something once normal to her change into something so foreign? She didn't know, and she couldn't be sure, but in the end she knew it would come down to the fact that she hadn't actually had to run in nearly a decade. She hadn't realized how much time could effect her.

The noise, or whatever it was, approached at a faster pace. In this time her mind finally kicked into high gear allowing her flight or fight instincts to catch on. The flight however was stronger than then fight. She took off despite the fact she was still in three inch heels. Somehow running was all that really mattered at the moment, not the health of her feet or bones.

She seemed to be okay with the running for a while until her heel hit a sleek patch of icy water. Her ankle twisted as she hit the ground on her knees. The pain that shot through her knees was immediate but the pain she knew she should be feeling in her ankle wasn't there. This let her know that her ankle was well and truly sprained because it never hurt until you took a step on it. She tried to pay no mind as to the pain as her body protested as she hauled herself up off the sidewalk.

At this point her breath was coming in little bursts as her lungs sucked in icy air expelling puffs of fog. She knew she should stop, pull out her phone and call someone but now that her mind had settled on running it wouldn't change its course. She hated that. For as long as she could remember she was always able to think things through even if she was fleeing. Her mind was getting lazy and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.

So she kept running because it was the only thing she could do in the moment. Her ankle had begun to throb painfully and with every step she took the pounding of all her weight on the foot in question began to weaken it. She felt the quivering of her ankle giving way as she stumbled back to the ground scraping her knees painfully on the ice cold concrete. She hissed loudly but pulled herself up again realizing the heel of her shoe was cracked.

Stumbling her way down the street she found a nice and steady light to stand under. Panting she leaned up against the cold and damp brick wall of the building behind her. She didn't know how far she ran nor did she know if whatever was following her was still doing so at the moment. All she knew was that her ankle was throbbing, her heel was broken, her knees were bloody, and the blood was pounding so hard in her ear she couldn't even hear the sounds of the city around her.

She stood there trying to catch her breath as her eyes darted around the street falling to the ally just a few yards away from her where she stood. The shadows were never a good place, a fact she had learned so long ago in what felt like a different life, in a different world. She had actually been running from the shadows, or at least something lurking in them from the noises she had been hearing. She couldn't be sure anymore.

She hadn't seen anything in the shadows, not that she had been paying much attention as she had run down the street and passed alleyways. Her mind hadn't been quite willing to fall back into it's natural survival mood which had ended up leaving her in the injured state she was. If her instincts hadn't kicked in in the manner they had she would have time to take off the accursed shoes and she wouldn't have a busted ankle nor injured knees.

Slipping off her shoes she tossed them in a nearby trashcan without so much as a regret. They were ruined to begin with so they were of no use to her any longer. She would have rather gone barefoot if she needed to run anymore that night. The damn heels were the reason she was hurting and the reason her breath came in frantic little pants. Heels only slowed her down and for that she cursed her friends for making her wear them in the first place.

She was in the middle of debating running back to the party just to be somewhere safe when she heard a thump in the ally down the street in the way she was going not from where she was coming. Her heart rate picked up to the point where she feared a heart attack brought on by fear. Her hazy eyes darted up and down the street looking for away out but found nothing but darkened apartment buildings. After all at three in the morning reasonable people were tucked away safely into their beds where the evils that lurked in the night couldn't touch them or those close to them.

As the noise grew closer she knew she had to make up her mind. Without so much as another thought she darted the way she had come as she realized that whatever was after her had somehow gotten in front of her. She didn't scream, didn't call out, just ran because at that point in time her life depended on it.

She ran several blocks before she found a small dimly lit alcove on one of the buildings she could have sworn she passed moments ago. There was enough light that it was safe but shadowed just enough so that she could hide her small frame for as long as she needed. She had to bite her lower lip to keep from panting heavily. Her heart beat so loudly she was sure that someone would hear the distinct beat. She worried her own godforsaken anatomy would give away her hiding space.

The seconds ticked by as her feet began to freeze on the snow laden cement. She wished for the first time in all the time she had lived in London that it was summer. At that moment she would have given her life just to feel the nearly overbearing heat of life within the packed city during the summer.

She closed her eyes when she heard the footsteps approaching her little hiding spot. Her heart beat faster, her pulse raced frantically. This moment, out of all the freaky things she'd seen, topped the list of the scariest. She just hoped she lived through it to tell the story to anyone who was willing to listen, to anyone who wouldn't just blow it off as a drunk moment.

As she opened her eyes she saw a hand come from the lit area, though from her spot in the corner she couldn't quite make out who, or better yet, what it was. She nearly squeaked when the hand took hers and pulled her from the shadows into the light.

"Come on," she heard the owner of the hand order. She blinked rapidly looking at the face before listening. Running down the street she felt a little safer but she could almost feel the unmistakable feeling of something breathing down her neck.

Something grabbed her, hit her from behind. All she heard was a shout of her name, then complete and utter blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you to my reviewer and those who followed/favorited this story! You are the reason this chapter is out!_

_Disclaimer: I do not know Doctor Who...BBC does. If I did...I can't say what I'd do lol._

* * *

**Chapter Two**

When Addie finally came around she felt the panic of not know where she was. Her breaths came in shallow bursts as she blinked rapidly to try to clear her blurry vision. When she could finally see again she realized she was staring at the ceiling of her room in her flat. She knew this because on the ceiling hundred of tiny glow in the dark plastic stars were tacked up to give the illusion of the night sky. She'd put them there when she first moved in as a vain attempt to bring back some of her best memories. They rarely worked save for the disappointment and pain of remembering all that she once had.

In a moment of blind panic she remembered what had happened the night before and the reason she was now laying in bed in her own room with every muscle in her body screaming in pain. Launching herself out of the bed she landed with a loud thump on the ground beside her bed, a groan escaped her throat as she curled herself into a tight ball as the fear rode her to the edge of insanity.

She had broken once before, a long time ago. The fear had taken her over and her mind had finally snapped leaving her raving mad for several days as her mind tried to purge itself of the memories, the moments, the fear of all she had seen and suffered in her short life. She had fought back, tossed aside the fear and madness until she was herself again, until her mind could manage the darkness it saw, until the darkness became a lesson she would never soon forget.

Addie fought back now just as she had in the past, fought the crushing oppression of her mind trying to shut down as a strangled scream tried to rip its way from her throat. She shuddered several times before the quaking stopped and the urge to scream passed as the memory of the night before faded into just a nightmare. She knew this wouldn't be the first time she would relive the moment but she knew that she would be able to hold her own the next time. Nightmares were her constant companion. She had learned how to deal with them and to shove them into the back of her mind where they hovered waiting for the next strike when she least expected it. This one would be no different.

Untangling herself from the sheets that seemed to have trapped her immobile on the ground as she had fought the mental break, she kicked until she was free finding her injured ankle wrapped snugly in a brace to keep it as still as possible. She smiled shakily as she ran an unsteady hand through her matted black curls. She knew she looked a mess but that was of no consequence to her as she pulled herself up to her feet. There was a staggering pain that lanced through both legs when she had her full weight on them. Taking a few tentative steps forward to make sure she wouldn't fall down, she found that she wasn't in as much pain as she had originally thought.

She wandered her way out of her bedroom, opening the door as gently as she could not to alert her roommate, her adopted sister Lilly. That was if the girl was even home. They girl had been spending more time at her boyfriend's flat than at her own. The hall leading from her side of the flat was darkened, the only thing lighting the way was a small nightlight in the plug low to the ground in the middle of the hall itself. The light was a precaution that Addie herself had insisted on. From there she passed her bathroom, peeking in when she heard the soft snort from inside. She found her two year old orange and white cat, Kiva, upside down in the basin of the sink, sleeping as if nothing in the world could wake her. She just smiled and continued on.

Finding the living room just as dim as the hall, she shuffled across the floor in order to not trip over anything as she headed for the light switch. She skirted the couch and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the last person she expected to see sleeping soundlessly on her couch. She frowned for a moment and had a flash of the moments before she had been knocked out. The Doctor had tried to save her. How she had forgotten that important piece of information was beyond what her mind could comprehend but in the midst of such fear she supposed her mind had removed some things from the film that was her memory and discarded it like a cut scene.

It caused her to smile, knowing that he had been there for her when she needed him the most. He always had been there for her and she figured he always would be if he was able. While seeing him sleeping brought her a warm sense of happiness, she wondered where the TARDIS was. He couldn't have gotten her here any other way, especially if she had been unconscious across town. Of course it could have been parked, so to speak, somewhere else but if she knew the Doctor it was somewhere near by where he could reach it.

Carefully she backed herself up in a fruitless attempt to avoid waking him or her roommate up. Of course things never went as planned for Addie and she ended up tripping backwards over her cat who ran off as fast as she could before Addie had even hit the ground. She landed on her backside with a combination of a grunt, groan, and squeak escaping her lips. The shock of the fall sent a wave of startling pain to shoot through her already tattered body causing a low moan of agony to slip from her throat before she could control herself.

Before she could even lift herself up off the ground the lights were on and she was sitting on the hardwood floor looking for her cat and blinking against the blinding assault of lights on her retinas. Within a couple of seconds she found herself looking up at two very concerned people. Granted one of them was pissed and they both looked as if they had just woken up.

"Hello," she said meekly with a small wave as she tried unsuccessfully to pull herself up. She landed right back on her butt in the same spot she had originally fallen.

It was the Doctor who offered his hand for her to take. "What the hell happened?" The little brown haired girl, Lilly her roommate, asked with her hands on her hips. "And who the hell is this?" She pointed a slender artist's finger at the Doctor. Before either of them could answer she just throw her hands in the air. "Never mind I'll figure it out in the morning. Just don't wake me up until noon." With that the girl stomped back off to her room across the flat.

"That was odd," Addie said when she was finally back on her feet. Her hand was still cupped lightly in the Doctor's and she felt his warmth. She felt a blush trickle into her cheeks and she realized she was no more than two feet from him, not even an arms length apart. The closeness of them shouldn't have bothered her but he was so different from the last time she had see him. Too different if she admitted it to herself. He was someone different, she didn't fully know him like this.

She just took him in, stunned now that she was able to look at him. He was slender and tall, dressed in a blue pinstripe suit looking sharp and handsome. His hair was messy, as if he had stuck his finger in a light socket and he hadn't gotten around to actually fixing it. His eyes were brown and he had this silly grin on his face as if he too were watching her like she was watching him. So much time had passed for her, and for him she guessed judging by his looks. He was a different man than the one from her past yet she still recognized him as if it had been yesterday he left her on Earth to live a normal life, dressed in a leather jacket and black trousers looking older than he did now.

Addie cleared her throat, pulling her hand lightly from the Doctor's warm one. "I never got to thank you for saving me," she murmured as she walked her way around him and to the couch. Sitting down was a bit of a problem since her backside was now throbbing from the fall she had taken but she managed. She had no doubt her tailbone was now bruised, much like the rest of her.

"How did you know it was me?" He asked lightly as he took a seat across from her on the ottoman that was usually used as a coffee table. It's leather surface was scared and molted from where sweating glasses had been placed atop it without a coaster or rag underneath. It gave the piece of furniture character.

Her smile this time was a little bit wider. "Oh you know. I have this gift," she said sarcastically as she tapped the side of her head. "You're as familiar to me as I am to you. It's the curse of our people."

"It's a curse when you're used to knowing there were others out there like you and now there are not, save for one." He sounded wistful, sad, and slightly depressed. She didn't like that sound yet she knew it almost as well as he did.

She placed a hand on his knee and gave him a shake trying to draw that grin back, the one she had seen moments ago. "You've got me and that should be excuse enough to come pick me up and take me away."

"You've been living your life." He didn't grin but he didn't sound as sad as before, as if knowing she was living and thriving was something to be happy about.

"Not how I wanted to," she grumbled as she realized that this was not how she wanted their first conversation in ten years to actually be about. There was so much more she wanted to talk about, so much they had to catch up on. She didn't want to drag out her issues with his abandonment of her just yet. "Lets start over," she held out her hand. "Hello Doctor."

His smile returned giving her a glimpse of a the childishness he held within him, a childishness that still resided within herself as well. He took her hand holding it firmly in his own. "Hello Addie. It is really nice to see you again."

"Like wise. I was beginning to think that you had abandoned me for good." She giggled a little making sure the mood was light instead of heavy as she spoke. She knew this was a bit of a touchy subject which was why she had tried to stop the turn their conversation had been heading. She didn't want to talk about it. They would get to it eventually but right now, she didn't want to bring it up any more than she had to.

"And leave my partner in crime alone for the rest of her very long life to live it out as a boring human? Never!" He taunted her which earned him a smack on the arm. It was odd, her sitting there in front of him, a grown woman rather than the teenager she had once been. He wasn't who he used to be either. He had looked older, sounded older, acted older back then. Now he was closer to her age, look wise at least, and he didn't sound as serious, more playful and fun loving.

She let out a laugh this time. "Yes boring. I don't think a boring human life involves being chased by a being I can not see. Please just tell me it wasn't the Vashta Nerada this time? Those things scare the hell out of me." She shuddered at the mention of those very creatures who had once haunted her dreams. If she allowed herself to think about it she realized that the shadows did haunt her dreams, more than she had originally thought.

"What would you have done if it had been?"

"Kissed my pretty arse goodbye and pray I haunt you for a very, very long time." She was rewarded with a short laugh and a grin. "But seriously, it wasn't the Vashta Nerada."

"Tell me," he urged. She knew what he was doing, testing her. Seeing how much of the old life she remembered and how much had been pushed back into the file that was her memory of years gone by.

"Vashta hunt in swarms. They are rarely heard and often sneak up on their victim. The cause a rather quick, if not merciful, death by literally fileting their prey to the bone in under five seconds. Shorter if the swarm is large. If it had been Vashta I wouldn't have heard them coming and I wouldn't have been able to out run them. That's for sure, especially on dark streets with little to no light and hundreds of shadows just waiting to come alive." Shuddering again she tried not to wrap her arms around herself. She didn't succeed and ended up hugging herself. "Nasty little buggers but not what was after me this time." Her arms loosened around her just slightly.

"Nope, they certainly weren't. That makes me wonder, what was?" While he said this he grinned, as if the thought of figuring out the puzzle that was presented to him was exciting. While she wouldn't totally agree with that sentiment since she had been chased by whatever nasty thing was out there, she had to agree that hunting something she couldn't see was a rush she wanted to experience once more.

Stretching her feet out in front of her she grinned, showing a little more tooth than she normally would have. She couldn't help it, she was just that excited and happy to finally see the Doctor after such a long time. "There are hundreds, if not millions of nasty little things running about. It could be anyone of them correct?"

"Right you are!" He sprung from his seat and reached a hand out for her to take. "Come on, lets go find out what's following you, just like the old days." When she didn't grab his hand right away he reached down and pulled her off the couch. She gave a wild giggle as she staggered on her feet. She didn't walk though as he tried to drag her from her living room. He gave her a curious glance.

She just shook her head a smiled. "I can't just take off Doctor. I've things to take care of before disappearing. Clara and Danny won't like me just taking off and Lilly has to be informed so she'll know it could be a while before I show up again. Plus I have to make sure she'll be fine watching Kiva and I need to let my boss know I'm taking leave."

"What's a Kiva?"

She chuckled. "Of course that's what you would take from the speech. Kiva is a cat, my cat to be exact. I'd take her with me but you never really did like cats."

"Bring it with you if it will cause a hassle leaving it here. The TARDIS is large. I'm sure it'll get lost somewhere."

"It has a name and gender you know," she snapped a little harsher than she originally intended. "And on a different note," she tugged her smaller hand from his. "How the bloody hell did you find me in the middle of London? Are you stalking me?"

Giving a sheepish grin, the Doctor rubbed the back of his head in what she would call a guilt gesture. She simply raised a brow while waiting for his answer which she knew wouldn't come unless she prodded. "I'm waiting," she muttered as she flopped herself back on to the couch forgetting for a moment that her body was a wreck. The pain was slowly disappearing but it was still there. Her biology couldn't chase all the aches away without some time.

"I came to see you of course. Locked on to your energy signature and found you right before that thing attacked you."

She sensed the lie but decided that it was better for the both of them if she just ignored it for now. Unlike the Doctor she couldn't sense him or his emotions, unless he was somewhere close by, like within a couple of blocks. When her own emotions ran high she couldn't sense him either, which was why that night she hadn't known he had been lurking around following her.

"So you were looking for me I assume?"

"Why else would I come to London in the winter time?" He joked causing her to smile brightly. Her birthday was in the winter months, namely the thirteenth of January. It was two weeks before Christmas as it was, yet she was more excited about her twenty fifth birthday. Twenty five years alive, fifteen of which had been spent on Earth in one form or another and ten of which had been spent flying through time and space. Her birthday shouldn't matter, it was just a blip in her lifetime. One of many more to come.

She chuckled to herself lightly. "London in winter is quite pretty, if not a tab bit cold. I'm sure that's why."

"Oh of course."

"Seeing me is just a side trip." She poked at him now with her uninjured foot. The Doctor suddenly jumped to his feet and extended a hand in her direction. She just kind of looked at it for a moment. "I already told you that I'm not in any shape to go anywhere and I've things to see to before leaving. Give me a couple of days. In the meantime if you wish to go gallivanting off into the universe by all means do so. Just don't forget about me." She stood up, patting his chest as she limped from the living room to her bedroom shouting behind her, "I'm headed to bed. If you don't leave make yourself at home on the couch!" With that her door shut behind her with a lovely click.

Once inside she slid down the door, her aching back pressed on the cold wood. She gave a shuddering sigh, the nights events not really affecting her. What was was the fact that the man she hadn't seen in so long, the man who had been, and probably still was, her first crush was sitting in her home. She just couldn't help the butterflies that fluttered as well as the pain it brought about just seeing him.

She wondered in what ways he was the same and in what ways he had changed since she had last laid her eyes on him. She knew that when he regenerated it wasn't just his form that changed, but his mind. He still held the memories and all those things dear to him but he wasn't the same. She hoped, just for a fleeting second, that he would allow her to get to know him the way she used to, to know him at such a bone deep level that whatever pain he felt she felt. It would take some time but she was damn well sure she was going to try her hardest.

**_A/N:_**

**_So this story will be moving at a slightly slower pace, meaning updates should be about once a month, maybe twice if I am lucky. So just hang in there. I've got other stories to work on and school to work with as well. I'll do my best. Just leave me a review or message. I'd like that :)_**


	3. Chapter 3

_Yay another chapter! Anyways, short and to the point right now. Thank you to my reviewers, readers, and anyone who has put this story on their favorite or follow list. You guys make my day and are the reason this story has continued! :)_**  
**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who but oh how I wish I did. I do however own Addie and anyone else you do not recognize. I also own this plot since it's AU as of right now. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter Three**

After Addie had left him for the final time that night, the Doctor allowed himself to wander around her flat. He poked at some of her belongings, some of which he knew probably belonged to Lilly. He studied the pictures hanging on the walls, the figurines dotting dusted shelves, and the copious amount of books overflowing from the two bookshelves in the room.

The pictures where what drew him in. They told a story much better than any book could ever do. They weren't arranged in any kind of order but the Doctor could figure out which ones were older just by looking at Addie. He found the ones where she was fifteen, just starting a life on Earth away from the hectic life of the TARDIS. Though those pictures, populated with friends and family, Addie looked anything but ecstatic to be there. She had a smile, yes, but it was as if that smile had to be forced. As the pictures moved on in the years he saw that her family became less and less, her friends more and more. Her smile was less forced, her eyes shining brightly with happiness and laughter. That was what he had truly wanted for her, a happy life with little risk of danger.

He spotted a few recent pictures scattered in standing frames on the highest shelf of one of the book cases. They were of Addie and Lilly, standing in front of a grand old castle with their arms wrapped around one another mid-laugh as if someone off camera had said something funny. She looked radiant, like when she had a rush of adrenaline from the dangers they had once faced together. She was older in that picture, more mature than in the others, leading him to believe it hadn't been taken too long ago.

Just as he was about to move on from those photos he caught the glint of a silver frame behind one of the ones he had just been looking at. Out of curiosity, and the fact that it had been hidden yet free of dust, he carefully reached up and removed the frame and picture for a better look. What he saw before him, rather held in his hands, made his hearts skip a beat.

Inside that old silver frame, which gleamed and glittered showing it was well cared for, was an older picture of Addie. Her hair was a mass of thick darkness around a pale face with sparkling gray eyes. This picture was taken around the same time he had dropped her on Earth, maybe a couple of months following it. What got his attention the most, however, was not the black haired girl he had watched grow up but rather the blond standing beside her with a long slender arm thrown over Addie's shoulder. Addie's arm was around the girl's waist. They both held a bemused look, a bit impish as if they were planning something that would never be spoken of if it could be helped. The girls looked to be around the age of fifteen, possibly sixteen.

He knew that girl. It was Rose Tyler. His Rose had known his Addie. They had been friends. Friends for at least four years before he had taken Rose away to travel through time and space with him. Four years before he lost her to another universe. Four years of doing god knows what and causing trouble no doubt. While this fact made him smile it also made him sad. Remembering the loss of Rose, and realizing that he had ripped the one person Addie was probably the closest to away, made him feel like a bad guy even though he knew it wasn't rational to think that way.

With a heavy sigh he went to place the photo and frame back where he had found it. Instead it noted that the back holding the picture inside the glass was bulging as if the picture was thicker than it should have been. Even more curious than before he carefully removed the back only to be assaulted with a torrential rain fall of over a dozen or more pictures.

With them now scattered across the floor, the Doctor set about retrieving them and placing them, hopefully, in their proper order. While doing so he took a look at each one he gently picked up off the hardwood flooring. The pictures were more of Addie and Rose, a couple of them had Lilly in them, even a few had a smiling Micky and Jackie. In all of these pictures they all looked so happy, so complete. In that one fleeting second the Doctor knew that leaving Addie on Earth had been the best thing for her and for Rose, and all those who had known either of them.

He continued to shift through the photos coming to the very last one. To his shock and amazement this picture was actually taken during the time Rose had been off running around with him. He didn't know when, or how this picture was taken, but it had been. It must had been snapped by someone close to them because there was shock written on both girl's faces. From the angle it was taken at he could see Addie's eyes vibrant and Rose's eyes sparkling. He wondered what had happened after the photo because there wasn't anything else. He wondered what they had done, had they embraced or yelled, talked or cried. It brought up so many questions and so many thoughts that he couldn't even being to sort everything out. So he simply did what he should have done in the first place. He placed the pictures back inside their frame, put them back on the best he could, and set the frame back behind the ones where he found it.

The Doctor tried desperately to get the thought of Addie and Rose together out of his mind. He'd never had this happen before, at least not that he could remember. Two companions, at different times in their lives having known one another and been close friends. How odd it must have been for Addie to have to keep such a large part of her life to herself and poor Rose, not being able to tell her best friend what she was doing while she disappeared for weeks, if not months, on end? He couldn't imagine what it had been like for the two of them but he felt happy knowing that at one point they had had one another to lean on.

Knowing this fact now, however, made him wonder what Addie thought had become of her dear Rose. But did he dare ask her knowing what questions he would bring about let alone the emotional distress he could cause to both of them? The subject would be broached eventually, like all of their history would, yet for right now he just wanted to think about the here and now, to make sure Addie was okay and that maybe, just maybe she would like once more to fly away with him even if it was only for one last trip.

00000000000000000

Eleven in the morning, that was the time Addie found herself rolling out of bed to land on her feet. When she put pressure on her sore ankle she felt only the slightest of twinges of pain shot up through her leg. It was more than bearable, nothing at all like it had been several hours ago when she had her midnight encounter with the Doctor. In fact her whole body felt more rested, relaxed almost. She not only had to thank her physiology but the fact that the TARDIS was somewhere near by. She'd always had a connection with that big living mass of machinery.

Giving a large stretch she reached her arms skyward and gave her body a little wiggle feeling pops and snaps of her bones. She stifled a yawn as she ran a hand through her messy hair before making her way out of her room and down the hall. Thankfully, unlike last night, she didn't trip over her cat nor fall on her backside. She easily walked into the living room finding it completely empty of life, which she supposed shouldn't have been much of a surprise. She did, however, find it more than mildly depressing that the Doctor had run off without so much as a goodbye or any indication of when he would be back.

"'Tis the life of a wandering space man," she chuckled more to herself than for anyone else.

Padding her way to the kitchen she found her teapot sitting beneath it's cozy, still warm as if it had just been made minutes ago. In fact a cup, half empty, sat on the counter as if it was meant to be there. She thought for a moment that it belonged to Lilly only to hear the distinct sound of her flatmate waking for the day. Thuds and curses, that was how Lilly had been greeting the mid-morning sun since she was sixteen, which was five years ago.

It hit Addie then that the cup belonged to the Doctor. He had stayed the night and even made tea! It upset her though that he had taken off and was nowhere to be found in the flat. He could have been half way across the universe and she wouldn't known any better.

With a quick shake of her head she simply grabbed the cup, dumping the contents down the drain and setting it gently in the sink even though she felt the urge to hurl it at a wall. She went about making her own cup of tea trying to calm the anger dwelling in her stomach. Now that the shock and happiness of seeing the Doctor had warn off all she felt was hurt and anger bubbling in her stomach and heart. She knew that it wasn't proper to think like that but she had waited far to long for the Doctor to show. She had waited and waited until she finally just gave up, giving into the fact that her life was now on Earth and not in the stars. Her anger dissipated as she thought about what she would have done if in his shoes. Would she have dropped herself on Earth to live a regular and less dangerous life? The answer was yes, she would have done it in a heartbeat. She couldn't stay mad at him. Yet the hurt of being abandoned without hearing from him stilled burned inside her.

She was just pouring the hot tea from her clear glass pot when she heard Lilly scream and the distinct whirring of the TARDIS being landed somewhere inside the flat. Of course Lilly's girlish scream had caught Addie off guard causing her hand to slip off the cup and pot sending both shattering to the ground below.

Cursing up a blue streak, Addie raced for the sink, barely missing stepping on a piece of broken glass as she hopped herself up onto the counter, flicking on the ice cold water only to stuff her now partially burned feet and ankles into the basin. "Stupid bint, couldn't have given me a bit of warning before screaming like a nancy!"

"Oi, I'd like some warning before your martin man lands his ship in the middle of our bloody living room!" Lilly shouted back, her voice a little thready with surprised and shame for having screamed like a sixteen year old at a horror film.

"Oh bugger off," Addie shouted back. "You're not the one with burns and cuts on her legs now are you?"

"What were you doing, playing with fire?" Lilly growled as she raced into the kitchen. While her voice said she was angry, her face said she was worried. She looked around the kitchen seeing the shattered remains of the glass pot and cup. "Addie, seriously? You broke the bloody pot again."

"If you didn't scream at the first sign of something startling we wouldn't have this problem now would we?" Addie mumbled finally as she began to take off the wrap that had still been wrapped around her injured ankle. It had protected that leg from much of the scolding water but her toes and mid-calf had still be splashed. She noted some of the small scraps, none of which were bad. She'd done worse while shaving her legs. "He's not mine and he's not a martin either. I wouldn't be calling him that if I were you. He gets a tad bit offended."

Lilly sighed while weaving through the mess. She reached for some towels to clean tea and glass off the floor. "Whatever he is, he's got bad timing."

Addie gave a weak smile. "I'm sure it wouldn't have mattered what time of day he made another appearance. I would have simply dropped something else at that scream of yours. If I hadn't known any better I would have thought an ax-murderer was in the flat trying to stab you." She tossed the balled up wet wrap at her adopted sister's head getting a laugh in response.

"Well it wouldn't have cost us thirty quid. This pot was a gift from mum."

"That little thing cost thirty quid?! Could have saved some money and went to the grocery and bought one for half that." Addie reached back for the paper towels before turning off the water and drying her legs. "Didn't do too much damage I suppose. Just a couple of tender spots."

"You're lucky you hadn't just made that pot. Other wise I'd be taking you to the ER."

"What's going on in here? Did I miss a party?" The Doctor came gallivanting in, oblivious to the fact had by accident caused the commotion.

Addie finished drying her legs and slipped them out of the sink to hang off the counter she still sat on. Several spots on her legs were still stinging and burning but it wasn't as bad as it first had felt. She leveled a heated gaze on the skinny man watching Lilly mop up the floor. "You're what happened. You and your unannounced visits and lack of flying skills. Bloody near sent me to the hospital with burns."

"What?" In confusion he looked around the kitchen. "How'd I do this if I was landing the TARDIS in the other room?"

Rolling her gray eyes she made sure that where she hopped down was free of debris, it wouldn't do for her to need stitches to the bottom of her foot, not again anyways. "The noise, which I usually love, scared a just woken up Lilly who in-turn screamed which caused me to jump and drop both my fresh cup of tea and the glass pot!"

"It's not like I intended for it to happen. I assumed I'd be back before either of you woke up." He stretched at the back of his head in shame. "You alright?" He looked at Addie.

"Quite. I've had worse."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Lilly snapped as she tossed the last soiled rag into the sink. "I need the broom," she said while pointing to the closet right next to the Doctor. He just stood there. "Get it." She ordered.

Shocked at being ordered about by a human he didn't even know, he opened the door and grabbed the green handled broom in question while Addie just stood there laughing. She wasn't mad anymore. She never could properly stay mad at the Doctor. He had always done something to make her smile and laugh. He had been, and still was, the bright spot in her world.

She finally settled down and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't looked so shocked. I've told her stories about you, what you are and myself as well. She doesn't know everything but she knows enough."

"You've told a human about what you did before you landed here?" Utterly astonished he just sort of stared at her as if she had grown a second head on her shoulders.

With another eye roll she grabbed the dustpan to help Lilly finish cleaning up the remnants of her morning tea. "I had needed someone to confide in when I first got here. I know that her parents knew about you, sort of seeing as her dad worked for the government at the time, but I didn't want to talk with them. Lilly was the closest to my age and after a month or so of me living with them I opened up to her."

"Like Adds said, I don't know much but I know just enough. So please, for all that is holy, somehow send a message or something to let Addie know you're going to land that infernal thing. Or at least, as Addie said, learn how to fly it properly." With that Lilly stalked off.

Addie chuckle while dumping the glass. "Don't mind her. Not much of a morning person, that one." She tightened everything realizing that she didn't have a way to make tea. "Got a good pot in the TARDIS?" When he nodded she simply smiled and said, "Mind going to fetch it seeing as you helped break mine?"

"I believe that was all your fault." He grinned and ducked the flying dustpan before disappearing for several minutes coming back with a ceramic pot in his hands. She smiled briefly at that pot, remembering the Doctor, the old Doctor, teaching her how to make a proper cup of tea when she was seven. She had burned much of the tea, and wasted more water than she could drink but that lesson had been a fun one. A life lesson she still used today. "I see some things don't change," she whispered as she rubbed the pad of her thumb across the engraving of her initials into the earthenware.

With a deep sigh and a bright smile she went about gathering her kettle, pouring water inside only to set it on the burner. She and the Doctor sat in a slight uncomfortable silence while they waited for the water to come to a boil.

"So," she murmured lightly while leaning against the counter. She used her heel to scratch at the stinging flesh on her calf trying to be rather discreet about the movement.

"How bad are your legs?" Addie sighed at his question having realized that her subtle movement, or what she had thought was a subtle, had been noticed after all. "You've never been subtle with pain," he said as if having read her mind.

Simply raising a brow she chuckled. "Stay out of my head." She shoved at him just as the kettle whistled. "My legs are fine no thanks to Lilly and you. Just a few red stinging patches which will, with some lotion, go away. It's not the first time I've been burned, you know that well."

"More than I care to actually. Nothing else bothering you? Nothing from last night?"

She pondered for a moment while she made her tea. She mentally went though her body as she tried to find anything that was overly sore or in a tremendous amount of pain. She found nothing but the dull throb in the back of her head from falling as well as the sting of weight on her ankle. "Nothing really. Just a few aches and pains, nothing I haven't dealt with before. I am female after all. I suffer monthly." He simply gave her a look which made her laugh brightly before taking a sip of the still hot tea. She burned her lips and mouth but kept that little fact to herself not wanting to alarm the man in front of her.

"Lilly, she doesn't like me much does she?"

"Doesn't know you I suppose." Addie shrugged motioning to the pot. The Doctor shook his head in response. "She thinks I'm going to leave, you know. You're all I've talked about when speaking of my past. She is well aware of the fact I miss my old life."

He looked at her for a long moment which had her shifting from foot to foot in discomfort. She was about to speak when he did. "You are going to leave though? Come back and join me in the TARDIS?"

Her smile was soft this time, reassuring almost. She could feel his hope, his guilt in asking her to give up a life she had been living for a large part of her life. What he didn't know was that he was offering her the life she knew, the life she craved, back. It was the life she had sat and thought about, the life she had wished to have once more. "I'm going to leave, yes. There is no doubt about that Doctor. This is going to be hard on Lilly. She's lost so much in her young life."

"I don't understand."

Hopping back up onto the counter, Addie set her cup down and looked back over her shoulder making sure that Lilly wasn't within ear shot. "Lilly lost her grandparents when she was sixteen. It was a drunk driving accident. Her grandparents, her aunt, and cousin were in the vehicle as well. No one survived except the driver who hit them. Last year her boyfriend died. Right out of the blue, didn't even know he was ill. Apparently he had an aneurism, dropped right in the middle of the grocery. I was with them and even with a nursing degree I could do nothing but call for an ambulance. She wouldn't talk for a month, wouldn't go to her classes, and wouldn't even paint. I thought I had lost her to her own mind but suddenly she just talked to me."

They sat there for a moment, quiet, yet this time it wasn't uncomfortable. Addie's thoughts played through her mind and without much thought she showed them to the Doctor. The mental link they shared flared and she was glad she was sitting down as the painful images of watching her sister fall apart flashed behind her eyes in bright color.

"She doesn't want to lose me. I know nothing I say can make her believe that I'm not leaving for good and she wouldn't survive traveling with us. She's a timid soul, not that there is anything wrong with that. She's just not cut out for adventure like I am. Suppose it's my race." She rocked her feet back and forth, staring at her painted toe nails and the large bruise that seemed to engulf her damaged ankle.

"You don't need to feel as if you need to come with me. It is up to you." He was sad now which caused Addie to frown.

She slide of the counter to stand in front of him, gray eyes glittering. "I need to go away Doctor. You know as well as I do that this isn't my home. My home burned long ago, well it will have in a couple hundred years," she chuckled morbidly at her own joke. "I'm as wrong for this place as you are."

"Hey now I'm not wrong for anywhere." He tried to put a trace of hurt in his voice but couldn't help the childish grin on his face.

She raised a dark brow. "Yes, of course. Nowhere is wrong for the Doctor, even when the natives are running him out with fire and pitchforks."

"That was one time and it wasn't even my fault. It's the last time I'll ever bring you to Salem."

Shaking her head she just shoved at him while giving a little laugh. "Get, I've things to tend to if I plan on leaving this blue marble behind, if only for a little while."

"Blue marble." The Doctor mulled it over as if tasting the term on his tongue and in his mind. "I like that. I just might—"

"Don't even think it Doctor," she called out from deeper in the flat, her voice bouncing off the walls. "That belongs to me."

"Oi, you can't claim that," he shouted not bothering to follow her to wherever she was going to do whatever it was she had to do.

He watched her pop her head back in, her smile bright and showing her teeth. Her eyes were alight with fire. "Of course I can! I'm a Time Lord!" And then she was gone, a rush of black hair and pale skin. He couldn't do anything but grin and remember all those times she had shouted that as a child. He was happy to hear it again.

**_Suggestions? Comments? Concerns? Review please!_**

**_A/N: I know this was rather short and didn't seem to really be much more than a filler chapter. It'll be picking up soon, trust me. Expect semi-regular updates. I'm trying to get in a schedule where all of my stories are being updated at least once a week but I think they all might be kind of wonky with updating until I get into a grove. _**

**_Also, fans of this story, if you go to my bio and scroll down you will find a couple of links related to this story! Again thanks for reading and sorry for the long note. I usually don't leave these as you know!_**


	4. Chapter 4

_Hello there again lovely readers. Another day, another chapter! Anyways I want to thank you reading this and a special thanks to those putting this story on their follow/fav list. And for reviews! Enjoy the chapter! On and some shameless advertising, I have a poll on my profile so please check that out and vote. It's much appreciated and you'll get a digital cookie!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, the BBC does. I do own Addie, Lilly, and the plot of this story!_

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"Lovely, isn't it?" said Addie while looking out on the city from the edge of her balcony. She sat on the thick railing, her feet dangling four stories in the air above the street. Some people would call her crazy for risking her life as she was yet she did it all the time.

She didn't have to look back to know her sister had slipped through the sliding glass door. Lilly had never been one to be subtle when it came to sudden appearances.

"You're going to leave me aren't you?" whispered Lilly. Addie looked over her shoulder seeing her lighter haired adopted sister huddled in a plaid blanket to ward off the cold of London. Her eyes were slightly red rimmed, her cheeks puffy, and her lips swollen from having been tugged by her own teeth over the last couple of hours.

With a heavy sigh, Addie swung her legs back over the railing and landed gracefully on her bare feet. She embraced her sister in a tight hug feeling the younger girl shake as she began to sob quietly. The girl clung to her sister for several minutes while Addie soothed her the best she knew how. That involved whispering soft words and rubbing her back. "I'm not leaving for good Lilly, you know this."

"I can come with you." The girl said hopefully, no strength in her voice.

"Come now love, you know that isn't possible. You scream at spiders and jump at the shadows." Addie ran a hand over her sister's hair giving the end a playful tug.

Lilly snorted into Addie's shoulder. "So do you."

"Yes but I've had the reason to jump at shadows and freak out over spiders. You've got nothing to fear from them. What happens when you learn what lives in those shadows? You wouldn't be able to live with the knowledge I carry. I don't mean to insult you Lil but you know this as well as you know I'm not human." She released her sibling to look at her at arms length. While there was only a handful of years separating the two in age, Lilly looked so much younger in Addie's eyes. Maybe it was the fact that she had seen more of the world and universe that the girl had, or maybe it was the sheer number of times her life had once been on the line. Yet for whatever reason Addie knew that Lilly was a child to her, just as she was a child to her long gone people. "I'll come back, often. So often you'll be wishing I wasn't around. Plus I'll always have a phone and you can reach me whenever you need me wherever I am."

Lilly ran her thumb under her eye, swiping away tears, trying to look strong. "What about work Addie?"

Addie smiled now, sensing that they were going to be okay. "The advantages of working for a nursing agency is the fact that I can take off whenever I want to. I don't work constantly, I've taken weeks off at a time before. I'll always be registered at the agency so whenever I come back I can work. I've got enough money saved away from working as well as the money—well gathered from my years traveling. Every month you get a transfer for my part of the rent and bills. You're completely covered Lilly, if that is what's worrying you."

Lilly shoved at her sister now, nearly sending the taller woman falling onto her backside. Instead Addie fell harshly into the railing hearing the groan of her weight hitting the wood. Her mind flashed to horror movies and the victim falling to his or her death on a rickety balcony. However, showing little fear of what happened to be frolicking around her mind, she simply righted herself to stare at Lilly. "What was that for?"

"You know bloody well I don't care about the money. I just don't want you to leave!" The girl shouted before storming back into the flat, slamming the sliding glass door as well as she could. The frame rattled and the glass shook but it managed to stay in place, just as the railing hand when she had been shoved into it.

"Dammit," Addie cursed as she fussed with the door which had gotten stuck at being moved with such force as being slammed. "Open up!" she shouted at the door until finally she just beat at the metal frame hoping that it would release allowing her access to the flat. It wasn't until she saw the Doctor through the glass flip the lock that she realized Lilly had managed to lock her outside.

Addie had a flash of anger but quelled it by reminding herself that Lilly was having a hard time dealing with the fact that her sister was leaving her behind. Lilly had only been eleven years old when Addie arrived, it was only logical that a girl that young grew attached to the only sibling she ever had, even if she was adopted. They had rarely been apart for more than a couple of weeks, and usually they were only a couple of miles apart. They had even been sharing the flat since Lilly was sixteen and going to get her A levels.

"Girl's got a bit of a temper," the Doctor stated obviously.

"Just a bit," Addie mumbled locking the door shut behind her before closing the blinds. "She's upset, doesn't want me to leave."

"Speaking of which, are you ready to go?" he asked, hands in his pockets rocking back on his heels as if impatient to be staying in one spot for so long. Addie had to agree with that emotion wholeheartedly.

She smiled solemnly and nodded. "Yeah, just give me a moment with Lilly. I'll meet you inside. Kiva settled?"

"Running around her new home," there wasn't much emotion there, just a dull tone that had her laughing.

She reached up to kiss him lightly on the cheek when her laughter settled. "I know you don't like cats, not now that is. So thank you for putting up with her for my sake."

He shrugged and said simply, "Hasn't tried to claw me up, suppose it isn't that bad."

"Couldn't hurt a fly, that cat. Lazy too." She smiled then shooed him off towards the TARDIS which sat in the living still, a large hulking blue monster that screamed for her to hurry up or be left behind once more. "Be back in a moment," she called jogging towards the other side of the flat. She knocked on Lilly's door.

When she got no response she tried the handle finding it locked. "Lillian let me in! I need to speak with you." She pounded once on the door.

"Just go! I don't care anymore." Came a sobbing voice from inside. It made her heart break just a little but then she remembered how Lilly had tired to lock her out of the flat and the sadness turned into a form of low level pity. The girl was twenty one, not even a girl any longer but a woman.

"I'll break the door down if you don't open up right this second Lillian Marie!" Her tone came out harsher than she actually intended.

There was shuffling on the other side, a curse and then the click of the lock being twisted. "What?" Lilly asked with puffy eyes and a red tipped nose. "I thought you were leaving."

"I was Lilly, still am. Right now in fact. I wanted to make sure you know that I love you and that this hurts me as well." Addie tried to reach for her but Lilly moved out of reach. "You don't want to believe me that's your fault but I'll be back like I said. Call me if you need to talk. You won't even know I'm gone."

Lilly choked out a sob. "I've been around you for ten years of my life! How can I act as if you haven't just up and left? What do I say to mum and dad? Your friends? Just can't say she's off traveling through time and space now can I?"

Addie sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Tell them I've gone away for a bit, that I needed a break from the monotony of my daily life. Besides, I don't have many people I call friends. Rose is gone and Micky, well he's God knows where with that wife of his. Never really did have anyone close to me besides them and you." She held out her arms for a hug.

It took a second but Lilly finally gave in and hugged Addie tightly. "Keep safe and come back with stories."

Addie let out a wild laugh. "Oh the stories I'll have for you."

"I love you."

Addie felt her own trail of tears slide down her cheek. "I love you too Lilly. I've got to go," they released one another. Lilly kissed her sister on the cheek before the darker haired of the two smiled, turned away, and walked back down the hallway.

Knowing herself all to well, and that if she turned back now she'd decided to stay, Addie just rushed towards the front doors of the TARDIS pushing her way inside. She slammed them shut behind her, sliding down them until she was sitting on the ground with her knees to her chest, tears staining her cheeks.

"Are you—"

Cutting the Doctor off before he could finish the questions, she choked out, "Just go. Now." While she felt the rumbling of the ship beneath her she laid her head on the tops of her knees and took a deep breath. She remember only two times where her emotions had gotten the better of her in such a way. The first was right after the Doctor had left her stranded on Earth, though at the time it was for her own good. The second was when she had lost Rose. She loved Lilly and she felt terrible to be leaving her behind yet at the same time she felt so much more free. Conflicting emotions for a very emotional situation. It never ended well.

Thankfully she wasn't going to have to dwell on her emotions.

"No. No, no, no. NO!" She heard the Doctor screaming just as she was tossed violently sideways into one of the railings. She felt the sting of forming bruises on her hip as she hit metal. As she heard the sound of the TARDIS doing something odd, she hauled herself to her feet, falling backwards against the doors when the ship lurched once more. She cursed as the Doctor screamed and rushed around the console. Barely two minutes into her first trip on the TARDIS and suddenly things were going wrong.

"What the hell?" she called as she took long strides to get to the console. She fell to her knees several times but managed to get to the point where she was gripping the console for dear life. "Did you do something?"

"I didn't do anything! Just tried to get her into the vortex!" He whacked a mallet on something causing a high pitched hissing noise to join with the ringing and buzzing of something going wrong.

Addie growled low in her throat. "Hitting her isn't going to help any! When was the last time you fixed anything?" she asked as she rocked to the side nearly falling over but managing to stay solidly on her feet.

"I don't remember!" A plumb of smoke burst forth causing both of them to cough wildly.

Rolling her eyes and raising her shirt over her mouth to block the smoke, she slide down so that she was effectively straddling the console with both her legs while sitting down. She wiggled her fingers into one of the panels, the one exuding the horridly coloured smoke, and pulled it off tossing it to the side. She found a fried wire. She coughed twice realizing that the dark smoke was tinting her clothing and skin. She mentally cursed.

"Sonic!" She raised her hand into the smoke filled air and waited until she felt the weight of the sonic screwdriver in her hand. She had her own somewhere in the ship, she just had to find it. For now his would do to fix the wire which she was nearly a hundred percent sure was the cause of the problem.

"You actually remember how to work it?" he asked surprised as he pressed another button causing her to slam forward, knocking her head into the console. Hearing her curse, he peaked over and saw her eyes burning while a small line of blood bloomed from the wound found in the darkened area where her head had struck the metal. She was going to have a knot and a bruise but it didn't look like the gash was anything but a minor scratch. "Sorry," he shouted over the ringing in her head and the ship they were currently in.

She swiped at the blood with her free hand which caused her to slide sideways as another violent shudder rocked the TARDIS. She readjusted herself in front of the panel once more. "I will kill you if I die," she murmured as she found the right setting on the sonic which fused the two ends of the fried wire in a temporary fix. Within moments the rocking ship became stable and the smoke started to clear. The ear ringing bells of the TARDIS, once alerting it's driver to danger, stopped leaving the console room deafeningly silent.

"You really need to make sure you keep up with some basic repairs. The brake wire burnt itself up. I fixed it for now but if I were you I'd replace it. Sooner rather than later," she finished by slapping the panel back into place using the edge of the control table above her head to pull herself up to her legs.

"Welcome back," he said with a goofy grin.

"Thanks," she murmured back. Despite her soft tone her smile was just as goofy as his. Somehow facing the threat of the ship crash landing gave her a sense of giddy happiness.

"So," he started twirling around the console. "Where would you like to go first?" His tone was happy, excited. It managed to pull her away from the annoyance of having been tossed around like a sack of rice and the sadness of leaving her sister behind.

Tugging at a thick lock of her hair she gave him a hesitant glance. "Could we, um, just stay in the vortex for a little while?" She hated herself for sounding so timid as she asked.

The Doctor deflated visibly but gave her a bobble of his head to let her know that it was perfectly fine if she wanted to stay put for a little while longer. She felt bad that she was taking the fun out of her finally being back on the TARDIS to travel with him but she needed some time. "It's just I want to get situated here. Reacquaint myself with the ship and everything on her." She finished rather lamely, rubbing the back of her head.

"Sure, sure. Take your time. I'll just, tinker about I suppose. Let me know when you're ready." She smiled brightly at his response and simply slipped into one of the various halls threading their ways through the infinite space that was the place she had called home for so long.

Running her hands lightly along the walls she felt the hum of the living machine beneath her skin. "Haven't changed much old girl," she whispered into the air knowing the ship could hear her, could feel the rampant emotions flowing through her mind and body. She felt a slightly deeper hum, felt it straight to her core. Her smile softened. "I've missed you too, girl."

Winding her way through the halls, she passed room after room. Some of the rooms where labeled, some where not. She passed the music room, the library, the pool, the kitchen, the tennis court, and even the Doctor's room. At that door she took a moment to run her hands along the golden wood. The last time she had been on the ship the door had been black. Apparently the door changed with each regeneration. She found this odd and interesting at the same time.

Continuing on, Addie kept her hand on the wall as she carefully padded her way down the halls, her bare feet warming with each passing step. That was one of the many things she loved about the TARDIS, the warmth of the mental, the living essence of the ship they called home. She chuckled when she felt the vibrating hum of the ship laughing at her. Rolling her gray eyes she simply slapped the wall lightly while putting one foot in front of the other in a long search for her room.

She was lead through the labyrinth of halls, yard after yard of endless hallways which would leave even the most sane person insane. Yet she found it to be alluring, peaceful like the sound of classical music rolling through an empty room. Like a form of white noise which could lull even the loudest child to sleep. This was why she walked on. On and on, until her memories merged with the present, until she was nothing but a walking time line.

She could hear the laugh of her childish self playing tag with the Doctor through these halls. In fact she saw the ghostly image of herself at maybe ten years old running down the hall, shouting and laughing and calling for the Doctor to catch her if he could. That childish laughter was like warm honey, a fond memory of her past she would always turn to.

As the halls dragged on, the images and memories advanced to a sullen preteen yelling and slamming things. When those images faded they turned to ones of her right before she left. Tears running down her face, sobs echoing down the hallow halls. That memory struck home, slapped at her face like an insult. With a small shake of her head the images cleared and her mind was back in the now. Her twenty five year old self walking slowly down the halls in which her life had been lived. She had grown up with these halls and she held out a little hope that she could continue to grow in these halls.

It was then, when she made that final fleeting hope, that she came to stand in front of her door. A pale purple monstrosity that had her laughing brightly even as the color shifted in front of her eyes until it turned into a bright emerald green affair with her name now sprawled out in the beautiful script of her people along with the bright hand writing of her own in English.

Addie grabbed the polished silver handle, twisting and pushing inwards revealing a room that was completely familiar to her, as the door had been moments ago. The room was deep, with the two farthest corners set-in with window seats under towering wooden built in bookshelves. The walls were all purple. Her bed was a large wrought iron affair with a flowing canopy, set against the back wall, covered in purple as well. She cringed at the color, so annoying now.

Like the door, right before her eyes the room changed to what she wanted, to what she saw in her mind's eye in the very moment. The walls, except for the one at the back of the room, turned from that horrid feminine purple to a soft gray with undertones of green, almost a laurel tone. The back wall turned emerald. Her bedding turned soft gray with hints of green stitched designs. The drapery turned black, see-through but dark nonetheless. Her dressers, which had been off white in color turned to cherry oak, the book shelves were suddenly completely filled and the walls where left bare for whatever she wished to put up. Even the flooring had changed into a soft gray carpet.

Thanking the TARDIS, she made her way to the bathroom. It was done in white and gray, offset with splashes of green and black. Besides the now changed colors it was exactly like it had been ten years ago. Smiling to herself she exited the bath and walked to her bed. Sitting down she noted that her bags were in the corner, stacked neatly as if waiting to be put away.

That was what she did. Within two hours her clothing was put away, pictures were hung on the walls and placed on the dressers. Her cameras were put where she wanted them, safe and sound away from harm. Kiva's things were stashed and her toys thrown about for the cat to play with.

At the thought of her cat she searched for Kiva for a second, finding the feline under the bed hiding. She cooed softly to the orange ball of fur to try to sooth her but only received a low growl in return. Addie figured she'd get used to the surroundings soon enough and left the room, making sure the door was closed behind her.

She began once again to thread her way through the never ending halls of the ship. This time, however she managed to find herself in the console room in a few minutes. She saw the Doctor sitting on the jump seat staring at the console as if it had done something annoying, which most of the time it did.

This gave her the moment to take him in. He was taller than he last regeneration, thinner by far. His hair was brown and stuck up everywhere in a dark mess that made her smile. His eyes, she had noted before were brown too, chocolate she realized now that she thought about it. He wore tighter fitting suit, a tie, converse shoes, and at the moment a pair of tortoiseshell frame glasses. The long light brown trench coat he had been wearing earlier that day was tossed over a railing behind where he sat. Overall he looked younger, yet she knew the age that was hidden in that body, the knowledge in his mind.

"Something the matter?" she called trying to jar him from his contemplative thoughts as she waltzed in. When he didn't respond, just continued to look at the controls, she leaned her backside against the console right in his line of sight.

The sudden appearance of Addie caused the Doctor to finally notice her. "Well hello."

"Hello again," she chuckled brightly. "How long was I gone? Felt like years."

With a shrug of his thin shoulder he smiled and said, "Could have been. Time works weird in the vortex."

"Don't I know it. Doesn't feel like I spent ten years of my life here. Felt like just a blip in time." she whispered in a reverent sort of way. It never ceased to amaze her how time flowed more like a river on loop rather than a straight line of progression. "Ten years on Earth felt like eternity. I don't know how people, how my parents even, could stand such a boring A to B kind of existence." She shuddered at the thought of having to spend her whole life without knowing what was really out there in the universe. Humans befuddled her.

He gave a smile. "Humans, they don't know what they're missing."

"But I did," her voice was still soft, as if in she happened to be in a Church and was scared of raising her voice. With a shake of her head she continued on to a different subject. "So tell me, what had you staring aimlessly at the controls? She giving you an issue again?"

Sighing, the Doctor ran his hand through his already messy hair. "She's always giving me problems." He kicked the console for effect which did nothing but make Addie laugh. He was sounding like a sullen teenager who couldn't get their first car to work properly.

"What is it this time?"

"Nothing in particular," he said, still with a sullen facial expression.

Addie made sure she had that little glint in her eye, the one that said she was ready to cause some hell and have an adventure. The Doctor had always said it was a dangerous look. Lilly had said so too at some point in the past. There were so many people who had told her that the look she had when about to get into trouble was a truly stunning and frightening gorgeous look.

"Is it possible to go somewhere now then?"

He jumped to his feet, his brown eyes taking on the same glint as her eyes had. He looked right at her, asking the silent question of if she was ready or not. "Where to Addie?" He jumped around her to the controls, his hands already flying over and tugging at different things.

A giggle and roll of her eyes later she was seated on the jump seat watching him watch her for a moment. "Surprise me," she said. "You were always good at doing that." With that being said she watched as he grinned wildly, slapped a few buttons and slammed a lever down. The Doctor didn't have to tell her to hold on as she felt the rock of the TARDIS and, knowing what was to come, gripped the edges of the seat as the ship was directed through the vortex and then thrown from it.

That was something that she enjoyed about having known the Doctor for a while. He didn't need to tell her what was going to happen, he just expected her to know and act accordingly. This trust in each other is what had saved her young life many times in the past and she had a really strong feeling it would save the both of them in the future. So for now she held on for dear life as the TARDIS gave a violent lurch nearly throwing her into the console. Instead of squeaking or screaming, she let out a wild laugh, a laugh of pure joy, joy so bright it burned as large the star at the center of the solar system in which Earth belonged.

**Suggestions(please!)? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

_Hello their my readers. Thank you for the reviews and adds. I would write a little something in response to each review I received but I'm under a time crunch right this moment. Look for them in the next chapter!_

_Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Addie and the plot. The Doctor and anything else you recognize belongs to the BBC, lucky bastards XD_

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Addie felt herself slid right off the jump seat sideways landing on her side laughing wildly. Even though there was a slight radiating pain in her hip she couldn't help but feel weightless and giddy as she hauled herself up to sit leaning against the railing. "Oh how I've missed this," she wheezed out, her voice hoarse from the laughter.

"I see that. Never seen you look so radiant," he said without much thought behind what he was saying.

Addie nearly bounced up as she shot towards the doors, turning before opening them to give him a slightly apprehensive grin. "Where and when are we Doctor?" Her voice was higher than normal, excitement lacing with a giddy sense of fear. The two emotions making a heady combination nearly making her legs quake as she realized how long it had truly been since she had felt this type of excitement.

He gave her a cocky grin, leaning calmly on the console just watching her. "Why don't you go check it out?" He didn't even bother to look at the dials to actually see where and when he had landed the TARDIS. Sometimes a little sense of mystery made things that much more interesting.

She growled in a feigned annoyance, turned, and nearly ripped the doors off their hinges as she flung them open. She stared slack jaw at the sight before her, not only because it was stunning but because she was a bit confused at her surroundings. "We've landed on a moor. Why are we on a moor?"

The Doctor ambled his way towards the doors to stand behind Addie who still happened to be staring at the vast grassland before her. "I believe they would call it a grassland."

"Looks like a moor to me," she huffed. "Please tell me that we haven't landed in England because I will be thoroughly pissed." She even stomped her foot like a child who hadn't gotten her way.

Doing the only thing he could, the Doctor went back to the console to look at the dials. "Hm," he muttered out loud catching Addie's attention.

"Hm what? Hm means something went wrong? I told you that you needed to fix the TARDIS!" Her voice went from soft to shouting the more she talked.

"Hm, as in we're not where I thought we would be. Seems we've landed in Greece." He tapped a screen.

Addie shot a look back out the door then looked to the Doctor and said, "I've never seen Greece look like this. What year is it?"

"1896."

"1896," she wondered out loud, shutting the doors so that they were safely ensconced once more in the TARDIS where no one would see or hear them. "A lot of things happened in this year. When I was fourteen you took my to see Le boheme in Italy. Um," she began to pace, pulling at the recesses of her memory as she tried to remember what happened in Greece during the year they currently were a part of.

Clapping her hands together she squealed. "The first Olympic games hosted in the modern era!" she practically screamed. "They had been outlawed by some ruler somewhere along the lines and this is the first time they had been held since then. In Athens. We must be in the countryside." She flopped herself back into the jump seat with a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Right you are," he came around the console to grab her hand and pull her up off the seat. He nearly dragged her towards the front doors. When he felt some resistance from Addie he turned around to find a large smile on her face. He didn't understand why she looked excited but wasn't acting as such. "Come on, lets go see the games."

She waved her free hand in front of her body, indicating what she was wearing before saying, "Can't exactly go running about in smoke covered clothing and looking like I just rolled out of bed. I'd like to change if you don't mind. I'll be only a minute I promise you Doctor." She tugged her hand gently from his, finding no resistance on his part.

With a wink she took off from the console room and down the hall. Much to her relief the TARDIS sensed that she was in a rush and managed to get her to her room in a matter of seconds. She flung open the door, slammed it shut behind her, and made a beeline for her closet. Inside she found all her clothing and then some in its walk-in depths. She knew some of the clothing had been placed there from the wardrobe.

Finding the outfit she wanted she beat her old record for changing. She ran a comb through her hair, brushed her teeth, and grabbed a digital camera that could slip into the pocket of her pants. Her cell phone went in a front pocket and with that she was done.

Addie raced back to the console room finding the Doctor in the exact same spot as he had been when she had left him not more than ten minutes ago. "Ready," she sang grabbing his hand, tugging much in the same manner as he had moments ago. "What's wrong?" she asked when he refused to move. It would appear that their roles seemed to be reversed right then and there.

"Do you really think you should be wearing that?"

Dropping his hand she looked down at her attire. She could find nothing wrong with it. In fact it was a common outfit for her. A tight fitting tee shirt, this time in red, a pair of dark jeans faded out in some spots, a pair of Converse, and that was just about it. "What's wrong with this? I look how I always do."

"It's just you look like, well you look like a woman," he muttered lamely rubbing the back of his head.

Addie eyed him, not sure what he meant by that. "Well I am a woman after all. How else am I supposed to look?" She chuckled as she once more took his hand, giving it a light squeeze. "You taught me that as long as I walk like I own the place no one would questions me otherwise. So why don't we head on out and watch the games, maybe get something to eat. I want this trip to be free of danger and mayhem like the first trip I ever took with you, nothing to remind me of the dangers that will come."

And for just one second they were both transported to that same memory.

_Five year old Addie sat curled into herself on the jump seat. She could still smell the burning flesh of her parents, the wail of the beast dieing having been trapped right along with her parents in their burning house. She could still hear the screams, the crack of beams busting and the shouts of neighbors trying to figure out what had happened to cause such a disaster. In the midst of the chaos the Doctor, a man her parents had once talked of, whisked her out of dangers way. _

_This had happened not more than an hour ago. They now were in the vortex, the place in which time flowed. Neither of them had spoken though the Doctor knew that he should say something to comfort the young girl he now found himself in charge of. He had wanted a companion after all but now he had a ward. He wasn't sure if he should just leave her with a family in another time period or actually take her with him. All he knew is that right then he had a suffering child who probably didn't know what was going on. _

"_It's Addison right?" She nodded in response but didn't look at him. "Do you know who I am?" Again there was a nod. "Who am I?" _

_This time Addie looked at him, hauntingly pale gray eyes stared into the very depths of his soul in the manner only another Time Lord could. "The Doctor, my mum and dad talked of you often. Called you the rebel with a cause." _

"_You're mum and dad were smart to say that. Do you understand what happened today?" He took a seat on the floor in front of the jump seat, her eyes following his. _

_Addie nodded once before taking a deep breath. "They were killed. I don't know by what but whatever it was wanted them. You trapped it inside with no means of escape. It is dead just like my parents." _

_The Doctor was stunned at the intelligence of the girl before him. Time Lords, even children such as Addie were smart but never so well spoken with eyes that read as if they had seen the universe and then some. She was five, what could have happened in five short years to cause her to be so jaded? It couldn't have just been the fact that she had witnessed her parents' death. _

"_Let me take you somewhere, somewhere wonderful." He didn't wait for a response, just stood up, messed with some of the control and then sent the ship out of the vortex. Addie had the sense to hold on for dear life, having just recently been on a trip. _

_When the shaking stopped the Doctor held out his hand. She looked at him for a moment, her eyes darting between his offered hand and his face. She couldn't know what he was thinking but in the moment she had to trust him, trust him as only a five year old could. She put her small hand inside of his, felt his fingers close around her own and unfurled herself from the ball she had been in. _

_Her bare feet hit the warm grated floor and along with the Doctor, walked to the front doors of the TARDIS. He let go of her hand in order to open the doors. He backed up, allowing her to look outside. Before her was the vastness of space. A galaxy of swirling colors not to far off, the colors shifting as the ship moved to keep itself stable. _

_Addie stood in awe of what was before her. She felt small, so small compared to the stars in front of her. It was something her parents had talked about, told her stories and showed her pictures of. It was something she had drawn and dreamed, something so beautiful her five year old brain could not comprehend nor find another word for. _

"_It is so beautiful," her whisper was reverent, like prayer in church. "This is what mum and dad saw isn't it? When they traveled. Do you know if they ever took me along with them?" _

_The Doctor softened. "You were born a year before, well a year before they settled on Earth. They might have taken you along with them on a few choice trips." _

"_Were they happy?" _

"_Why do you ask that?" _

"_They always fought. I can't remember a time where we had all sat down as a family and just enjoyed ourselves." Her voice was soft, a whisper away from crying. "Will it get easier?"_

_The Doctor sighed. "Time can help yes, but it never really gets easier Addison." _

"_It's Addie." _

"_Addie it is then. Where would you like to go next?"  
_

_By this point Addie had sat down, her legs dangling out of the ship in space. "Can we just stay here a while. It's so peaceful." _

"_Of course," the Doctor said, leaning against the railing. What he couldn't see was the small girl crying. Crying for all she had lost and for all she had gained. She was thankful for the Doctor and thankful that she was safe, even if her family was not. _

Addie released the Doctor's hand, realizing that this was the reason for their shared memory. She was seeing things through his eyes and he through hers. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen. I've been thinking of the past a lot lately."

"Before or after I showed up?"

"Before, not long before though. Maybe a couple of weeks or so."

"Any nightmares?" he asked beginning to pull out his sonic screwdriver. Addie swatted his hand away. He nearly dropped the sonic. "So yes to the nightmares?"

She just sighed and plopped herself down on the ground. "Yes, alright, nightmares. Nothing major, nothing too often, and nothing about what happened to me. I don't know what they are about. Just never ending fire and screaming. Like a thousand souls crying in pain with no relief and I can't find a way to make it stop. It'll last long after I've woken up. Sometimes I hear the sound of machines too, a low wail like a being suffering." She looked up at him hopelessly. As if maybe he held the answer to ending the torment of her dreams. She was a child, a child of time, so young and so lost, and in that moment she was looking at him for help, help he didn't know how to give.

The Doctor said nothing. He knew those dreams, quite well actually. The sound of those perishing during the war. His friends, his family, his enemies. What didn't make sense was the fact that Addie saw this now when she closed her eyes. She had been far to young to remember anything, her parents had taken her away at the beginning of the war. Could it be that she was sharing his memories while she slept? He didn't sleep often so she couldn't share his dreams. He would have to find a way to rectify the situation.

"Come on, let not dwell on the fact that I'm having nightmares. It's common. I'm just thankful they aren't about my parents." Addie watched as the Doctor jumped to his feet, offered his hands, and hauled her to her feet. "Thank you for not reading to much into this."

"Not a problem," he said with a smile. "Lets go watch the games." He offered his arm to her, as any gentleman would do in this kind of situation. With a bob of her head and a sarcastic half curtsy she laced her arm through his and with that they exited the TARDIS onto the open field just outside of Athens.

00000000000

Addie and the Doctor, her arm still laced through his, strolled down the street. People from all over the country and far off lands were doing much of the same thing. Little taverns had opened their doors to the travelers and the inns were overflowing with guests. The city was a live and bustling, reminding Addie of the weekend she had spent in New York with Lilly two years ago.

"Any idea what you'd like for dinner?" the Doctor asked while watching Addie as she watched everyone around her. It never failed to amaze him how much she liked to learn from their adventures. Even as an adult she still took every thing as a hands on approach to learning, especially since she could see and be a part of the things most people only read about in history books or dreamed of in their sleep.

"Huh? No, I'm up for anything, no lamb though. Of all the things I've tried I can not stand the taste of lamb." She gave a visible shudder as she spoke.

"Fish then, something fresh and light. It's hot here after all." He steered her into a small tavern with a written board of what they were offering as dinner fare.

Addie stopped him just inside the door. "What about money? We don't have any," she said tugging him back outside before anyone inside noticed them. "We can't just eat and dash. My mates and I used to do that, one or two were arrested and had to pay a fine. I doubt they'll be as lenient in the late eighteen hundreds."

The Doctor pulled small stack of notes. "I've got more than enough."

"How did you get all that? It's not like they have machines which will just spit out Drachma like you've done in London to get a couple quid." She slapped him on the arm before pulling a couple of bills out of the pile to stuff in the pocket of her jeans.

"Same concept just no machines. Walk into a bank, flash a piece of physic paper that says something ridiculous and they'll pretty much give you anything," he said smugly.

"Wait," she tugged at his arm getting him to look at her. "When the hell did you get a chance to go to a bank? You've been with me since the opening ceremony."

"Oh well, that's for me to know."

"And me to find out or I'll smack you."

"You were looking at some of the shops. I slipped out while you were trying to get into one of those dresses." He winked. "Sometimes dresses with several layers helps."

Addie pouted. "I couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes."

The Doctor snorted out a laugh. "I was gone for twenty and by the time I got back you still weren't out of the dressing room. The girl working there said you were having some issues, something about the corset not fitting you right."

"I'm not stick thin thank you very much. Damn thing kept compressing my breasts, felt like a lead weight was sitting on my chest." She crossed her arms over her said breast and continued to pout. "Color wasn't right for me either. I'll stick to jeans and cotton shirts if you don't mind."

He decided it was better left alone and once more directed her towards the tavern. This time there was no protest from Addie, she just simply walked in, glared at the men staring at her since it appeared she was one of the only females in the pub who weren't working there or working the streets. She straddled a stool at the bar and the Doctor followed suit.

"What can I get you sir?" The barkeeper asked looking at the Doctor while paying attention to Addie. This she wasn't used to. When she was a girl everyone assumed that she was the Doctor's daughter, a little girl along for a ride with daddy. Even as a teenager they saw her as the older man's daughter. Now that she appeared to look older and closer to the Doctor in age she was being seen as one of two people: his sister or his wife. She would rather go with wife because if she went with being his sister they were more likely to treat her as a piece of meat and come sniffing around.

Taking a subtle hint from the Doctor, Addie snapped her fingers in front of the barkeepers face getting his attention away from her chest and back towards her eyes. "I'll take a glass of wine, red if you have it." Her voice was soft yet firm and demanding, the voice of a woman in control and used to holding power over men.

"Yes ma'am and for you sir?"

"I'll take the same." With that the barkeeper ran off to get their drinks.

Addie shot a glance of her shoulder watching as four different men turned to look away. She shook her head and said, "I didn't take you for a wine drinker."

"Don't know, never tried it before. Didn't know you drank at all."

She laughed softly. "I live in a country where the drinking age is eighteen. I've been exposed to wine and hard liqueur for a while now Doctor."

They had there drinks within a couple of minutes. "Anything else I can get for you?"

"The fish please. I'm sure my husband here would like the same," she added after a moment watching the Doctor struggle not to smile. The man once again ran off to put their order in.

"What?" Addie asked taking a sip of her wine while the Doctor left his untouched to continue to look at her.

"You are aware that we are in the late eighteen hundreds in a traditionally male society."

"Well aware," she looked around. "Is there a problem."

"No, not so much a problem, yet that is. People may begin to talk."

She patted his cheek. "Don't be worried no one will remember the little black haired lass that emasculated the skinny man in a suit."

And with that they both fell into silence as they waited for their food to be delivered to them. There was so much more for them to speak about but neither of them wished to be the ones to bring it up. There was still the issue of what was chasing her that night he came for her as well as the issue with her nightmares. They hadn't talked much about what they had done when apart from one another and they weren't bringing up the fact that neither of them had wanted to be separated from the other to being with.

Addie, being the woman that she was, did wish to speak about everything but she still had yet to decide if this new Doctor was one who was more willing to talk than the last form. She knew he was a little short tempered, a little odd, and he smiled more often than he frowned. He was willing to give her the world yet here she was holding back her emotions because she wasn't sure of his reaction. She wasn't even fit to share the same space with him let alone travel with him if she couldn't trust herself to be open and honest.

She let out a sigh just as their food was being set in front of them. She was just taking a bite when there was a loud female scream from somewhere outside and close to the tavern. "No, no, no," she mumbled slamming her fork down just as the Doctor was out the front door.

Running after the Doctor a male patron of the tavern tried to bar her from leaving the building. "Let me through that bloody door or you'll be missing the rest of your teeth," she growled to the man in questions. He moved in shock and she darted through the door. She spotted the Doctor at the end of the street surrounding by a growing number of concerned people. There was a woman sitting up against the wall crying and wailing. A group of younger woman were trying to sooth her but she was having none of that.

While it might have been an impulse, or her natural instincts, Addie went to the woman first. She kneeled down in front of her, noting that she couldn't have been any older than her sister Lilly. "Are you alright?" she spoke softly as she laid a hand on the girl's shoulder.

The soft touch and voice must have startled her because Addie was met with a pair of wide and frantic looking pair of olive eyes. "Who are you?" The woman asked, her voice a little shaky but clear enough to understand.

"My name is Addie. I'm here to help. You see that man over there," she pointed to the Doctor who appeared to be examining something, or rather someone. She was anxious to help him but for now she figured it would be better to get some answers out of the woman in front of her. From her state of distress she knew the woman had been the one to find the body, or had been with the person when they had been attacked.

The woman nodded. "He's here to help too. What's your name?"

"Katrina, everyone calls me Kat."

"Nice to meet you Kat. Can you tell me what happened?" Addie asked risking a side glance at the Doctor who was now facing away from her. She knew that he was taking a reading but how he was doing it with so many people watching she didn't know. She'd have to ask him later.

Kat nodded, took a large gulp of air, and proceeded to tell her what had happen. "I was walking with my brother. He had just gotten back from our parent's farm. He's older than I am and worried about me living in the city with my cousins. He was going to take me to dinner so that we could talk about the opening ceremony of the games when, I don't know, he just dropped to the ground. It looked like he was just sucked dry before my eyes." The woman began to sob nearly uncontrollably now.

Leaving Kat in the care of the other woman on the street, Addie marched her way through the crowd, ignoring the men who kept saying that this was not something a lady should be seeing. She tried to hold her tongue the best she could, wanting to remind them that if a woman could birth their sorry asses than a woman was damn well allowed to see a dead body. Of course she said none of this, just smiled and slipped by them without giving anyone a passing glance.

She came to squat down beside the Doctor. "The woman tells me this man was literally sucked dry before her eyes. I'd say some sort of Plasmavore but seeing as no one saw anyone else do this, it can't possibly be one of them."

"How do you know about Plasmavores?" He asked, astonished at her vast array of knowledge.

Addie gave him a deadpan kind of look. "You are looking at a woman who spent ten years on a time traveling space ship with a library that would give the biggest nerd a hard-on, of course I've taken the liberty of reading as much as a can."

"Okay then, tell me what this thing could be then if it's not a blood sucking alien," he said this in a whisper as to not alert the people around them.

Addie thought about it for a moment. "I've got nothing. The only thing I can think of now is that it was a vampire. An invisible vampire." She tried not to laugh at the mental image and was doing successfully well until she saw the Doctor's smile. She gave a laugh. "Oh you've got to be kidding. Vampires doesn't exist, not in the classical terms anyways."

The Doctor didn't say anything, just stood up, walked to a police or military looking man and whispered something. Within ten minutes the area was blocked off and the man was being carted to somewhere the public could not see.

With the crowd now waning Addie got a minute alone with the Doctor. He was walking away from where they had been having dinner, something they hadn't gotten the chance to pay for, and was heading in the general direction of where the TARDIS was. Of course that was some couple of miles off.

"Come on now Doctor, you've got to be kidding me. Vampires, really true as life vampires with long pointy fangs and pale skin are not real."

"How can you be so sure?" He sounded just a bit to joyful in her mind. "Every myth starts somewhere. A wolf like entity takes the from of a man and you have a werewolf. Why can't vampires be based on an alien race?"

"Are you saying that Bram Stoker witnessed a real vampire sighting and later wrote about it for the amusement of other people?" The Doctor didn't answer her, just continued on smiling and walking. "You are kidding me."

"Do I kid with you?" He asked giving her that look that dared her to say something.

Addie rolled her eyes trying not to smile at him and trying not to laugh at the notion that there was a vampire roaming around the Greek country side. "I hate you sometimes."

"No you don't," he said nudging her with his shoulder.

Her brow rose as she said, "What makes you say that?"

He tapped her forehead. "Because I'm in your brain."

Shoving at his hand she grumbled, "Well stay out of it."

"Not going to happen." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit now as they approached the outskirts of the city. They hadn't been in the center, more like the outer rings where less activity was going on. They walked I silence until Addie could just make out the TARDIS.

"So this trip isn't going to be as danger free as I wanted it to be will it?" She asked when they were walking across the grassland to the ship.

"Nope," he popped the 'p' as he spoke. "We're going to stick around, see if we can find the thing killing healthy young men."

"Goody," Addie clapped her hands in joy. She wouldn't admit it out loud but she was happy that the trip wasn't going to be simple. She had missed the adventure. She just hoped that tomorrow she wouldn't be regretting it.

**Suggestions? Comments? Concerns? Questions? Review Please!**


	6. Chapter 6

_Here you are my lovely readers, another chapter. Um, not much to say except I hope this chapter came out just as I wanted it too. I've taken some liberties you'll see. So no blasting me on being wrong or something like that. If you feel the urge to correct me do not do it in reviews. I am more than happy to respond in a message. Okay other than that, have fun. Thank you to those who review and those who have added this to their alert/fav list. You guys have no idea how much that makes me happy. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, though I really really wish I did at some times. _

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"What do we do now?" asked Addie as she shut the doors of the TARDIS. Once more they were both safely tucked inside, nothing from the outside able to harm them."Not as if we can just leave them over night. Who knows if someone else will be attacked."

"We're not just leaving them. We can't exactly have the ship parked miles from town. Got to land her somewhere close."

"Look a little odd landing her in town, perception filter doesn't work as well as I remember." Addie teased while watching the Doctor do what he didn't do best, flying the TARDIS. She held on tight to one of the railings to keep from being thrown about mid-flight.

"Oh don't be so mean, she's just as good as she's always been." The Doctor pouted as she gave one of the controls a pet, like telling the ship she was being good. Addie wouldn't blame the ship for the somewhat rough rides, she blamed the driver.

She rolled her eyes with a teasing smirk on her face. "Yes landing a ship that looks like a sixties police box in the middle of the late eighteen hundreds is the brightest idea in the world."

The Doctor laughed now before saying, "Oh the places I've landed her, worse places where she would stand out than Athens in the eighteen hundreds."

At this Addie did give a wild little laugh. The ship landed with a startling lurch which slammed her forward, abdomen first, into the railing. As far as trips went this one was fairly good which was saying a lot. "I've been injured more on this ship in the last five hours than I ever was on Earth."

"Sorry about that. You've got to get used to her again."

With a little glare in his direction she raised a brow. "There isn't any getting used to her Doctor, it's more like you need to learn how to fly her properly so that I don't end up with my head bashed in on the console. Wouldn't do to have that now would it," she said as she lifted her shirt to inspect the straight red mark forming across her lower stomach. It would turn into a purple bruise before the end of the night. It would be gone tomorrow with any look.

She gave a little wiggle as she smoothed the shirt down and tugged her jeans up. "As I was asking, what do we do next Doctor?" She hadn't noticed the fleeting look on the Doctor's face while he had been watching her inspect her stomach.

"We do a bit of research," he finally said with a goofy grin.

"Foot research I assume. Don't know what that thing looks like and there are hundreds of creatures that feed like it, or at least similar in some respects I suppose." She began heading in the direction of the hall as she spoke.

The Doctor followed her asking, "Where are you going? The town's that way." He pointed towards the doors the opposite way in which Addie was headed. He might have been able to read her emotions given the fact they were the same species but he couldn't really read her mind.

"I've got something I'd like to retrieve if it's still in my hiding spot," she called, already in the bowels of the ship, the Doctor several yards behind her though with his larger stride he was catching up with her at a rapid pace.

He caught up to her just as they stopped in front of her door. He noticed the color change and the fact that her name was now craved in a more lilting handwriting of a woman rather than that of a child. Like the past, her name was written in Gallifreyan. "What would that be?" he asked.

Pushing her door open she turned quickly on her heel giving him a impish smile. "Hold your horses, you'll find out soon enough if you have the patience." She walked to her reading area, pulled up the cushion and felt around for the hidden latch on the inside of the wood. There was a satisfying click as she found the latch causing a small panel to pop up.

The Doctor, having watched Addie rooting around, stared in awe at the hidden cache. "Brilliant, couldn't have thought of any place better," he exclaimed. "What you got hidden in there?"

"This," Addie said brightly as she came up with her own sonic screwdriver. "Remember when you got me this thing? Had to cross your own time line just to snag me one." She flicked it open and watched as the tip flashed purple. She was realizing that her childhood self had quite the addiction to the color purple. But unlike her room, the color of her sonic could not be changed. It looked almost like an Earth black light.

The Doctor smiled at her. "You smiled like a loon for a week. Ten year old with a new toy, couldn't keep you out of anywhere after I gave you that thing. Sometimes wished I hadn't." He scratched the back of his head as she pocketed her new shiny toy, the same smile of her ten year old self on her face.

"Still smile like a loon whenever I think about it. I've missed it for years now. Could have helped me out a lot of messes when I was a teen." Her mind slipped back for a moment into past, her running around after dark with her mates, getting into trouble and just causing havoc for their parents.

"You still are a teen."

Her nose cringed at being called a teenager. "In the eyes of a Time Lord, yes I am. In human years I'm an adult."

"As a Time Lord you are merely a baby just learning to walk." He gently teased her even if it was the truth. She was literally twenty five years old, in respects to her Gallifreyan ancestry, she was just a baby. She wouldn't be an adult until she was nearly ninety.

Addie punched him lightly on the arm. "Thank you so much for calling me a baby. Just what I want to hear as a twenty five year old woman."

"That hurt," he said while rubbing the spot. "Come on you've got your sonic, lets go find out what seems to be killing people." He grabbed her hand, tugging her out of her room and back down the hall until they were out of the TARDIS in the middle of a rank smelling alleyway.

Addie put a hand to her nose nearly gagging as the smell invaded her senses. She could nearly taste it on her tongue. "Smells like a sewer in London."

"Of course it does, eighteen hundreds Athens. Not exactly twenty first century accommodations," he began to amble down the ally, his hands in the pockets of his coat. The smells around him didn't bother him one bit.

"Don't look so pleased. I haven't smelt something this horrid since I was a wee lass running about Elizabethan London with you on my tail. Didn't mind it back then, the thrill was a bit greater then and it over powered the smell," yet while she spoke she removed her hand from her nose and began to walk her way down the alley slightly behind the Doctor.

It was darker now in the village center. Taverns and inns were closed or were in the process of closing, people weren't rambling about as much either. The hum of activity which had occurred over the dead man not more than an hour ago had long since passed. The body had been removed and the grieving sister taken somewhere safer, where she was less likely to cause a scene.

While this might have seemed like a good thing for the town, it wasn't a good thing for the Doctor and Addie. They didn't have a body to examine and they didn't have people to talk to. They would either have to wait for another attack of they were going to have to find the body in order to see if they could find any clue as to what type of creature had done this.

Addie let out a sigh after ten minutes of walking. "Doesn't look like we'll be getting much done tonight seeing as that attack has the whole city in a bit of a scare. We should head back to the TARDIS, do a bit of book research, and maybe I'll cook us up some dinner since we didn't really get to eat at the tavern."

"Sounds like a good idea if ever I heard one. Can't be running around looking out of place," and with that being said the Doctor turned around, this time following behind Addie as they made their way back to the ship in the alley.

Once inside, Addie made a beeline for the kitchen, calling out to the Doctor as she did so, "Anything in particular you want to eat? I'm in the mood for breakfast actually. Feels like I haven't eaten in days. I suppose all this walking has made me a bit famished."

"Could you make banana muffins?" he called back to her like a child asking for candy.

She chuckled lightly. "I take it by the tone of your voice, you like bananas still. If you've got the ingredients then I'll be more than happy to make you some." She swore she heard him squeal like a child at her response. "Child," she mumbled to herself even while she was ginning widely.

With a shake of her head, she kicked off her shoes once in the kitchen. She walked around in her socks gathering bowls, measuring cups, and the numerous ingredients for the muffins. When those were put in the oven and baking she set about gathering the things for a full breakfast. Eggs, toast, hash browns, and even sausage and pancakes.

She was surprised by the amount of food in the kitchen. Growing up there had been only what they needed, only what she asked for. Maybe it was the years that had passed which had changed him or it was the Doctor himself who had changed, but she liked that fact that she wasn't having to request they stop off on Earth to gather things.

It didn't take more than an hour to get everything ready. "Could you call for the Doctor, let him know dinner, or rather breakfast, is ready," she asked the ship hearing a purr in response. It took a little more than three minutes before the Doctor made his way into kitchen where she was setting things up on the center island counter. She pulled up a second stool beside the one she had gathered for herself. She patted it while giving him a soft smile. "Here, sit. I'll serve, it's the least I could do seeing as you've taken me on again."

The Doctor didn't argue much with her order, just took a seat as she sat a muffin on a plate in front of him. "Fresh made with real bananas and vanilla. I added walnuts for a bit of crunch."

She watched hopefully as she began to lay out two plates and fill them with food. He began to tear into the now warm muffin as if it were the first thing he had eaten in months. For all she knew it was. "When was it that you last ate, beside the little nibble at the tavern?"

"Don't remember actually," he said through a mouth of muffin. "This is amazing!"

She gave a half smile, feeling a little self-conscious at being complimented. She had never been really good at being praised. "Thank you. I've been practicing baking lately. Got a knack for it actually. Made Lilly's birthday cake this past time. She couldn't help but love it, said it was the best cake she'd ever had. I'll have to make you one, maybe if you'd every tell me when your birthday is."

"You don't need an excuse to make me a cake," the Doctor reached across the counter for another muffin as she laid a plate in front of him. She poured them each a glass of milk and then she put her plate at her spot before hopping onto her stool. She grabbed for her own muffin.

She had to admit that they were pretty good, the best she had made in quite some time. The real banana gave it a smooth texture, the walnuts added a hint of crunch like she had said, and they were heavier than she usually preferred her muffins. "Best I've made in a while if you ask me," she mumbled while finishing off the crumbs and then dug into her plate. "Did you find anything while I was cooking?" she asked while trying to chew her toast.

"All I managed to do was pull at least a hundred books off the shelves in the library. We'll go look through them when we're done here."

"A hundred? Sounds like a lovely bit of fun, that." She poked at a bit of egg before swirling it into the shredded potato of the hash she had made. She gulped it down and finished off her milk. "You enjoying dinner?"

"It's amazing, best breakfast I've had in a long time."

"Probably the only breakfast you've had in a long while," Addie snorted out watching as he finished all the food on his plate. If he could have, without looking like an fool, he would have licked his plate clean. The mental image in her mind was cute and she couldn't help but grin a bit while finishing off the last bite of her own meal.

"I'm happy that you've enjoyed it," she grabbed at his plate and took up her own. "Take the rest of the muffins to the library while I clean this mess up. Shouldn't take more than a minute or two." She shooed him out even as he tried to protest her doing all the work. She shoved the tin of muffins into his hands and giving him a shove. "You've never been domestic, let me take care of this," she shouted after his retreating form.

She only got a grunt in response and she laughed.

She sang as she cleaned, making sure everything was in order before slipping out of the kitchen and into one of the many hallways of the ship. She went to her room first, changed, took care of Kiva, and finally began her trip to the library where she found the Doctor already going through a large pile of tomes.

Without saying a word to him, she took a large book off the stake, noting that some of the books were thin and some where as thick as her forearm. She wandered a couple of yards away from where the Doctor was seated on the ground, finding an old worn sofa. She adjusted the pillows and flopped backwards with the book in her hands.

Taking a moment to look at the cover she noted that it was in old French and quite old. She flipped to the table of contents, skimmed through it, and began to flip through the hundreds of pages in search of anything relevant to what had happened to that man on the street. Page after page she turned finding nothing of actual use though she did learn a little more about the Earth as a whole.

Halfway through she yawned softly to herself, blinked, and rubbed her eyes. She wouldn't say she was tired, more that she was bored. Sleep wasn't something she needed all that much, at least she was finding that as she began to get older. Yet here she sat, curled on a couch, reading a book looking for anything that could hint to what had sucked a man dry in the middle of the street in front of dozens of people, and her eyes were starting to drift closed. She was out in a matter of minutes.

00000000000

The Doctor heard the book hit the ground, the thud echoing through the first level of the library like a pin dropping in a quite temple. Curious, he glanced up from his book removing his glasses as he did so. Across the room he spotted Addie stretched out on one of the old sofas, her hand falling off the side. She was completely asleep.

He smiled lightly, put his own book aside, got up, and walked quietly to where she was. He leaned down to pick up the book, flattening the pages which had crinkled in the midst of its fall. He set the now straightened book on the ground and reached behind Addie to grab the throw blanket off the back of the couch. He gave it a soft snap before laying it over her gently.

She grumbled in her sleep, tugged at the blanket, and snuggled deeper under the soft fabric. He couldn't help the smile of affection that spread across his face. He had seen this sight before, several hundred times when she had been growing up. Yet never before had he felt not only the tug of affection but a tug of something else.

Even beneath the blanket her curves could still be seen, the soft fabric clinging to her frame. She had once been a child, still was in fact because of where she came from. Though here she lay, looking less like a girl and more like a woman that ever before. He wasn't used seeing someone of his own kind looking older than they should at such a young age in their life cycle, unless they had regenerated that was which was rare in its own right.

Earth had been the cause of that he supposed, exposed to all those chemical and hormones in the foods and water. That would cause her to mature a little faster than if she had continued to live on the TARDIS. She'd still look like a teenager if she had traveled with him. He didn't know if her maturing had been a blessing or if it would show to be a curse.

"Grew up more than you should have on that planet, didn't take that into account," he talked to himself while walking away from her sleeping form.

He sat himself back in his original spot surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds, of books. Yet he couldn't find the urge to continue flipping through them. If he had to place a bet on why he was so distracted, he would wager heavily on the reason being the black haired woman on the couch not more than ten yards away. It wasn't just because of how mature she was now, it was more because he knew something wasn't right. He didn't know why, he just sort of knew that there was something going on with her. Something she wasn't quite willing to talk about just yet. He knew it was something to do with those nightmares, he just wished she would trust him enough to talk.

00000000000000

Addie awoke with a scream from the nightmare. She had been burning, burning so terribly. Her body feeling as if it were on fire. She ended up flat on her front side on the ground, trying not to howl in pain. She felt her body curl into a ball as her body temperature rose. Her head was throbbing and every muscle in her body screamed in agony from some unknown injury. She couldn't pinpoint what was going on, where the pain started and where it ended. She tried to concentrate, felt the pain radiate in ripples down her spin, until she was so tightly wrapped around herself that she thought she was going to implode, like a star in the last moments of its life. She was burning from the inside out, as if her nightmare was raging inside her, a force of nature she couldn't fight.

Hands as cold as ice touched her back sending a new and startling burst of pain through her body. She screeched and pushed herself away from the hands. Her eyes were blinded by the fire in her system. She couldn't see who was there, couldn't even feel who it was.

Once more those cold hands made contact with her burning skin. She didn't scream this time, more like whimpered as she once more tried to move out from under them. She found herself trapped, nowhere to go to escape the cold pressing down on her body. She could do nothing but try to open her eyes and ears.

Her eyes still didn't work, the pain still clouding her vision. Her ears, ringing, opened more so than her eyes. She could hear her own screams and the soft sound of a voice. "Come on Addie, you're alright," the voice cooed.

"I—wh—at?" she tried to talk, her voice breaking as another round of fiery pain ripped through her body.

"Addie this is your body trying to adjust. I told you that you were just a child. I didn't take into account your time and Earth and the exposure to the hormones and chemicals. It shouldn't have come on this fast, it should have been a decade or more before this happened."

"What?" she managed to wheeze out, feeling the pain dissipate for a second before flaring once more. She tried to fight this time, tried not to curl into a ball but her body was having none of that and instead of obeying her, curled tighter into itself.

The hand smoothed her hair off her face, ran a thumb under her eye. She could feel the ice spread where she was touched. It was now becoming less of a pain and became more of a helpful sensation which kept her linked to herself.

"You're experiencing a burst of bio-engery for lack of a better term. Something that happens during regeneration and puberty of our kind. You shouldn't go through this until you around thirty-five, maybe forty years old."

"But I'm not an adolescence anymore and I sure as hell am not regenerating," her voice came off full instead of broken yet it was still soft and barely heard.

She was aware it was the Doctor holding her now, cooling her over heated body. "I never got the chance to explain our system to you. While you might have gone through puberty on Earth you haven't gone through it properly."

"How can I go through two types of puberty?" she questioned as she finally was able to pull herself up. Her eyes where no longer clouded and when she looked at her hands she saw a faint glow of gold. "What?" she flipped her hands over, watched as the glow disappeared.

The Doctor looked at her for a moment seeing the confusion in her gray eyes. "Time Lords are essentially like a human, females have a reproductive cycle similar to that of a human female. Normally a Time Lady would go through the puberty of our people at around the age of forty years old, some earlier some later. This mimics a human's puberty in which you turn from a child into an adolescent. Unfortunately you lived on Earth and were treated as a human. You eat prepared food with hormones and chemicals that kick started your puberty in a human way. Once you got back on the TARDIS you're Time Lord biology kicked in and this is the result, a rather painful burst of energy. It only lasts a couple of months, I promise you. These bursts will come on and off, usually with some kind of indicator. A headache, maybe a swift change in personality, it's different for everyone. You aren't as violent as some." He pushed some of her hair off her face before running his hand down her hair's length.

She tried to clear her head of the last of the pain as her body rode out the last of the energy bursts. "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand. Are you saying that I've got a couple of months left of dealing with this shit? I thought it was a one time thing! Damn it," she cursed and rubbed her hands over her arms.

"One time thing? This has happened before?" asked the Doctor still half holding her.

Addie sighed, ran a hand through her sweat covered hair feeling knots from her sleep. "Yes, about a month ago. I had a terrible headache the weekend Lilly went out with some of her mates for a girl's weekend. Asked me if I wanted to go with her. I told her I wasn't feeling well and I was going to take a nap. She left. I woke up in the same state I was here, not as bad but still it wasn't something I care to repeat. Will it always be this painful?"

"No, not always. If you can figure out when an episode will hit you can learn to breath through it. Think of it like cramps."

She snorted and said, "Like you would know what true cramps are. Granted this wasn't much better but still, don't care to repeat this again if it can be helped. Being here in the TARDIS didn't help either."

"Of course not. It accelerated things a bit, possibly made it worse."

"I would say so. Yet it would have made things worse if I had been out on the streets walking around Athens. Would have been admitted or taken in for experiments seeing as I glowed like a star there for a moment." She laughed a little as she removed herself from the Doctor's half embrace.

She realized that her tank top had ridden up nearly exposing her bra, her flannel pajama bottoms had slipped down to expose her hip bones. She blushed and tried to adjust herself as best she could in her current position. "Sorry about my state of dress."

"I've seen you in less," he said offhandedly.

Addie's gray eyes widened with shock as her face turned as bright red, nearly matching that of a tomato. "Well thank you for making me feel slightly more embarrassed than I already was. Now if you'll excuse me I need to take a shower and get ready for the day. If my calculations are correct it would be early morning. We've got to be off if we'd like to find out anything about this thing killing people."

"You aren't going to talk about this are you?"

"Not a lick Doctor," she murmured and waved her hand as she exited the library without so much a look back.

Once in her room she collapsed backwards onto her bed, a soft sigh escaping her lips as she felt an array of muscle cramps plague her limber frame. She grunted through the pain, felt it pass, and relaxed. She had felt this way for longer than she was willing to admit to the Doctor, little cramps here and there, flashes of pain, her lack of stability. She now knew what had been causing it and she wasn't quite pleased with it, yet there was nothing she could do about it.

After a few minutes of laying there with no lingering affects she rolled off the bed onto her feet and made her way to the bathroom in order to get ready for the day. She downed a couple of pain pills from the cabinet, took a swig of water, and then took a shower.

Within a little under and hour she was clean and feeling a bit more like herself. She dressed this time in a soft blue and cream Victorian inspired dress which was a little more period appropriate all curtsey of the TARDIS bringing clothing up from the wardrobe. She pulled her long hair up in a twist, sticking in a couple of pins to keep it from falling. She slipped on her Converse, grabbed her sonic form yesterdays jeans and along with her phone stuffed them both into the bodice of the dress, hiding them nicely.

She was out of her room in a flash after that, taking a longer route to the console room where she knew the Doctor would have gone following her departure from the library. "Hello there," she called softly.

The Doctor did a double take at Addie, noting that the dress wasn't truly from the late eighteen hundreds, but it was close enough. "You seem to be wanting to blend in today."

"I don't care to be stared at and what I'm wearing isn't exactly the proper attire but it's close. The TARDIS placed the dress in my closet, I'm assuming for the sake of the time period," she said giving a little twirl. "Kind of like it."

"You look lovely in it and you'll be less likely to stand out while wearing it," he added. "We've got to talk to the locals, maybe see if anything like this has happened before."

Addie rose her brow, snorted, and leaned against a railing. "You really don't think I haven't already thought about that? I'm a brilliant girl remember." Her tone dared him to say something smart about that.

When he didn't she walked to the door, opened one, and held it there so that he could lead the way. "After you Doctor." He walked out in front of her and when he outstretched his hand in her direction she took it. She was still a little iffy on the things going on inside her body but the one thing she was sure of was the fact that this man knew what he was talking about and she knew he would take care of her even if she wasn't going to talk to him yet.

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Review Please!**

**A/N: There is a link to Addie's dress in my profile. Also please take the time to take my poll. It's about which story you lot would like to see posted next. So far my stories based in the Sherlock fandom are winning. Anyways take a look vote. It would make me happy. **

**Also...I have a question for my readers. I'm sure all of you have seen the new Christmas special...What did you all think of it? **

**I personally loved it. I miss the Ponds like crazy but I think I might like his new companion. **


	7. Chapter 7

_New chapter, nothing interesting to note. Not sure how I feel about this chapter but I hope it turned out alright for you guys. Thanks to anyone who is reading, anyone who has reviewed or put this on their alert/favorite list. Enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, but Lord do I wish I did. I only own Addie and anyone/thing you do not actually recognize from the show!_

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Once the Doctor and Addie had gotten into the city it was decided that they were better off finding the answers they wanted if they split up. While the idea of doing something on her own without the help of the Doctor scared her, she was more than excited that he trusted her enough to do some leg work. She understood that in the past she had been a child and leg work on her own would have been pointless as well as dangerous and neglectful on his part.

So with direct orders to not get into himself into too much trouble, the Doctor headed for the closest hospital in hopes of getting his hands on the body to see if there was anything he could find to give a clue as to what kind of creature had done this. With Addie's orders being not to cause a riot or land herself in handcuffs, she went in search of anyone who knew where the victim's sister resided. Her real purpose was to ask the girl if she knew anything else that could help them but she had to find the girl first.

That had been two hours ago. Addie had gotten nowhere in her search, only getting grumbled responses about not knowing anything and a few rude remarks about there being something more important than the death of a poor farm worker. Most people simply ignored her, which she was beginning to realize annoyed her more than the responses she actually received.

Over the course of her questioning, she also began to realize how hard it was to hold her tongue in order to keep from saying or doing something she was going to regret later on. She had promised, or rather been ordered by, the Doctor that she wouldn't do anything stupid to get herself overly noticed but the line was slowly being drawn. If she encountered one more person who gave a snarky remark, she was going to cross that line and slap someone across the face, if not punch them.

Stopping in a small bakeshop Addie sighed softly making her way to the counter, resigned to the fact that this search might not even go anywhere. She didn't want to go back to the TARDIS to report to the Doctor that she hadn't been able to find something, she would feel like she had failed.

"What can I do for you, miss?" A middle-aged man implored with an appreciative glance down at her chest. His eyes didn't flicker to her face, just stayed lock on her chest as if it they held a pair of eyes.

Minding her manners and her place as a woman in the late eighteen hundreds, she simply smiled with clenched teeth while counting silently to ten in her mind. "Hello there. I don't mean to be a bother but I'm looking for a young woman by the name of Katrina? I'm a friend of her older brother and since I'm in the city for the games I thought I'd pay him a visit. His mum said he was staying with her for the week."

His eyes finally flickered up to her face and stayed there. "Oh dear, I'm sorry to tell you this but that poor boy died yesterday, right out in the middle of the street. Sweet little Kat is beside herself." The man's eyes grew sad, their lust for looking at her having diminished much to her liking. She felt guilty almost instantly when she realized that his sadness made her slightly because he wasn't leering at her anymore. She had respect for the dead after all.

Addie put on the mask of sadness, a mask she was well used to using in these kinds of situations from her youth. Even when she been appalled by the situation or running on adrenaline as a girl she had to use that mask, had to fit in. She'd also used that same mask when living in London. "But I just saw him the other day. He looked so healthy," she sniffled a little for effect. "I'm so sorry to hear about him. Is there anyway you can direct me to where Katrina lives? She's going to need all the help she can during this time."

"Of course, give me a moment. She's on our delivery list." He shuffled off to the back of the shop where she heard him rifle through some papers, and came back with a piece of paper and a note written on it. "Here you are miss. I'm sorry for your loss as well. I can tell that he meant something to you."

She was a bit surprised by the fact that her mask was that good but she managed to keep the emotion from showing on her face. "Thank you, sir. We grew up together. His parents and mine, well, they always planned for us to marry." She gave a small, yet sad, half smile. "Again thank you," she mumbled giving a small curtsy as she made her way out the front door.

Once more on the street she took a deep breath and finally read over the slip of paper. It read an address five blocks over from the city center where she stood. Tucking the paper into her bodice she made her way on foot in the direction of the address. She had passed that way over forty five minutes ago, yet no one she had encountered on the street knew of a Katrina having to live there. It was logical to believe that no one really knew the girl living with her cousin. She didn't quite think that was the case though.

Though most people now attending the second day of the games, there was still a large amount of people shuffling through the city much to her surprise. Paying as much attention to people as they were paying to her, she took note of the fact that she was completely out of place.

Here she stood, an alien from another planet with an English accent and an abnormally large amount of energy coursing through her veins, in the middle of a Greek city in an outfit she would have rather saved for a trip to Victorian London. While she did everything she could to fit in, she couldn't help but think that there was someone on the street watching her, wondering who she was and where she came from as well as why she just didn't make sense. She wondered how many other aliens walked the streets around her, if maybe the man she had just passed was from another planet. There was the worry that maybe, just maybe, the creature who had sucked that poor man dry the day before was the same thing that had tried to attack her the night of her friend's party. Maybe it could hop time, chase her though the universe and through time giving her no place to hide. It was a terrifying thought to be hounded across the universe by a being she couldn't see.

If it wouldn't have made her stand out even more than she thought she already did, Addie would have taken out her mobile phone and called the Doctor. He had taken a phone just for the reason if either of them found something important they could get in contact. She wanted to tell him she had found the victim's brother and that she wanted him to be there when she talked to the girl. She wanted to know if he had found anything, if the body was revealing what could have done something like that without being seen or heard. She wanted to to know that he would come for her if she were in danger. She also wanted to be reassured that nothing was going to happen, that she was safe from whatever had attacked her that night not so long ago.

Sighing, knowing that talking to the Doctor wasn't possible at the moment, she continued on until she found the proper building. She knocked on the front door, waited patiently and wondered if she was doing the right thing. The poor girl didn't know what had happened to her brother, that had been clear on her face the other day. But Addie needed to know exactly why the victim had been her brother and not Kat, or any of the other bystanders on the street.

After several minutes she knocked again hearing the sound of footsteps behind the door. "Hello? Kat? It's Addie, you remember the woman from the other day? I came to check on you." She called through the wood.

The door finally opened revealing, not Kat, but a blacked haired olive eyed woman. "You're Addie? I'm one of Kat's roommates. I remember you from yesterday but Kat isn't feeling well. She's not taking visitors."

As the door was being shut, Addie pushed her hand against it in order to keep it open. "I know it's not my place but I'm here to help. I want to find out what exactly happened to Kat's brother."

"He died of natural causes, ma'am," the woman's voice had taken on a sheen of ice. Addie felt a chill run down her spin. Something was off, she just hadn't put her finger on it yet.

"Yes, while I believe that is what you've been told I'm inclined to believe otherwise. I'll only be but a minute if I could please speak to Kat. I'll try not to upset her anymore than she already is." She kept her voice level with a hint of sweetness to show that she was of no danger.

The woman shook her head sharply. "I'm sorry but no." With that the door was promptly slammed shut in Addie's face, causing her to nearly stumbled backwards as a twinge of pain shot down through her wrist which had still been on the door when it was slammed.

"Bitch," she mumbled under her breath as she rotated her wrist and stood back. Catching movement above her she took a glance at up at one of the upper levels of the house. She saw the curtains twitch before seeing the flash of a pale scared face. It was over in a second. She recognized the face as Kat. Now she more than certain that something was going on in that house, something that Kat might be a part of, willingly or not so much.

Ducking into a small alcove near the alley beside a house down the street, she pulled her mobile out of her dress, turned her body so that she wouldn't be seen directly by people passing her by, and dialed the Doctor's number. It rang several times before she heard the distinct click of the call having been picked up. "Did you find anything?" she questioned without greeting.

"The body was cremated last night. No evidence to support any of our theories." He sounded dejected.

Addie couldn't help but smile as she quite teasingly said, "Well, I wouldn't say we're at a loss here. I believe I've found something."

"You've talked to that girl?" He perked up.

"Sadly no. I had the door slammed in my face by her flatmate. However when I was leaving I happened to look up only to see a very upset looking woman peeking meekly out of the second floor window. It appears as if Kat might be being held hostage or at least held against her will somehow."

"Where are you?" he questioned rather forcefully.

_Really? _She thought to herself.

"I don't know the address." Addie nearly jumped out of her own skin as he seemed to answer her thoughts. She knew that they shared a link, them being Time Lords and her having traveled with him for a decade, but they had never shared an actual connection.

_Can you hear me? In your head? _She thought at him in hopes of maybe getting a return answer. It was amazing how fast she adjusted to things like this when running with the Doctor.

After several seconds of silence the Doctor said, "The address Adds, I kind of need it."

With her own sigh of dejection she read off the address on the paper. She hung up promptly afterward wondering if maybe it had just been a coincidence that he had answered her one thought. Maybe he had felt her annoyance with being asked such a silly question. Whatever it had been she wouldn't deny that it had been odd.

Shaking her head and clearing her mind, she sat herself down on the stoop of Kat's home. It felt like she was forever waiting for the Doctor to come running, whether it was to save her or take her away. Always sitting, always watching, always waiting. It was troublesome and annoying and something she wouldn't change for the universe. She'd wait forever if it meant the Doctor was coming for her.

This time it wasn't a long wait. He showed up twenty minutes after her call. He was deposited in front of her by way of horse and carriage. "Really? Out did me by taking a cab while I've been swanning about by foot," she complained while looking up at him from the spot where she sat.

"Faster than walking from across the city. Doubt you would have enjoyed sitting her for an hour."

_Could have taken the TARDIS, _she mumbled in her mind while taking his offered hand, coming to stand on her feet gracefully in front of him. She shifted to dust off the back of her dress with her hand. It wouldn't do to walk around the city with dirt on her backside.

"Could have, probably should have. She was too far away from me to walk to her on foot, defeated the purpose really." He said with a grin as her face read the shock of knowing he could actually hear her. He had heard her over the phone and he hadn't said a word. He had made her believe she was going a bit insane. "Don't look so surprised. Most Time Lords can hear others when they are trying to communicate. Only a bounded couple can hear the other whenever they want unless they block them."

"I wasn't thinking at you though," she said with a frown. There was a lot about her people she didn't understand and more than a lifetime worth to learn.

"You might not have realized it but you were, deep down in your subconscious," he said while poking the center of her forehead lightly. She swatted his hand away with a mock growl and a grin on her face.

Addie grumbled out, "Why is it only now that I'm hearing you? It is something to do with puberty thing?"

"Quite possibly," he said rubbing the back of his head. "You were just a child when you first came aboard the TARDIS which would explain the lack of the telepathic link. You weren't born on Gallifrey either. But you don't want to talk about this, tell me what you think you've found."

With a roll of her eyes, ignoring once more what they should be speaking about, she walked with him to stand in front of the home of Katrina and her supposed captors. "I didn't find much of anything Doctor. I knocked, got an answer from a flatmate who said that Kat wasn't feeling up to receiving guests. I had the door slammed in my face, with a minor injury to my wrist," she wiggled said wrist finding that it didn't hurt as much. "When I looked back I caught something at the top of my vision. It was the blind twitching and I saw a pale face. It looked like Kat, could have been someone else, her cousin maybe. I don't know. Then the face was gone. I think somehow they know what happened to the victim or are victims themselves in someways." She realized she was rambling just a bit.

"So basically nothing. Did you run a scan?"

Addie rose her brow. "Please tell me how I'm suppose to run a scan with my sonic when I'm in the middle of a semi-busy street in the eighteen hundreds. It was bad enough I had to call you. Now that I can get your attention in your mind I won't have to worry about that part any longer."

Whipping out his own sonic screwdriver, grinning at her while she just shook her head and chuckled. _Always troublesome aren't you? _She was testing this new found thought communication.

_Always, _she heard his response and a grin appeared on her face. It was certainly odd hearing him inside her mind instead of hearing his words spoken. It was also very intimate which caused a tab bit of discomfort on her part but it wasn't an unwanted feeling which was a surprise in it's own right. "Don't get used to this. To much communication can bond us and I'm sure you don't want that."

"Gods no! I can barely live with myself in my head let alone having you running about in there. I'd be driven mad in a matter of moments." She nudged him. "Get to it, run your scan. I'm sure you'll find something." She stood behind him as he began to wave the sonic up and down the length of the door. She smiled at the whirring noise the little object made.

"Anything?" she asked after a could of moments.

"Nothing alien inside the building. So they aren't harboring the being responsible and they aren't aliens themselves, unless they are using a chameleon arch type device but this thing would have picked that up." He looked at the sonic like it had spouted another head or done something it had never done before. She'd seen that look before, several hundred times in fact. The look never grew old because it was rare for something to shock him. She especially loved it when the look was directed at her.

"What do we do then? Can't really break into the house now can we? It's just as illegal now as it is in my time." She poked him on the shoulder. "We could always shout through the door. Might be able to get their attention somehow." The Doctor just gave her a look. "Fine, what do you suppose we do then?"

"Can't do anything if no one wants our help." He said with a straight face.

"That's not the Doctor I know, he'd have hounded after these people until we got to the bottom of it. Please tell me you still do that?" She kept forgetting that he was a different man than he had been when she had first started traveling with him. While it might feel like he was her Doctor, she had to remind herself in moments like this that he wasn't hers anymore. She had to adjust and learn how he acted and reacted in situations. She could only hope that he was the same in some aspects of his personality.

He broke out in a grin, grabbed her up into a hug while spinning her around. She squealed wildly not caring about whoever happened to be watching them. All they would see was a happy young couple embracing on the street.

He finally set her on her feet and all she could do was smile and giggle like a teenager after her first date. "What was that for?" Her questions was breathy as her stomach settled it's fluttering.

"For not changing one bit," he said brightly, even though she didn't quite understand what he meant by it. "We'll wait until tonight, less foot traffic. We might be able to sneak in or we'll get lucky and the watch dog you meet earlier will leave. I'll go fetch the TARDIS, you can stay here and watch the house."

As he turned to run off in the direction of the ship she grabbed his hand stopping him in his tracks. "What?"

"Can I do it?" Her smile was imploring and soft, a smile she used rarely unless she wanted something. It usually worked, at least it had in the past.

"Do what?" She stared at him. She knew he knew what she was talking about. "You can't fly the TARDIS."

She sighed, "I know how, you taught me. She'll recognize me I promise. You can come and supervise if you want."

"Who will watching the house?"

With a shrug she knew she had won this battle. "It'll be a total of five minutes at the most. The worst that could happen is I end up in another time period and then I just hand the reigns back to you and 'pop', we're back where we're suppose to be." Her grin was flirtatious and impish at the same time. "So what do you say?" She fluttered her eyelashes a bit in hopes that he would relent and allow her to fly the TARDIS.

She watched him deflate, realizing he had no choice but to give her permission. "Fine," he grumbled like a child. She grabbed his hand, squealed, and took off at a run towards the ship several blocks over from where they actually were.

Once inside she released his hand and darted for the controls as he shut the door with a soft chuckle and shake of his head. She knew she looked like a child, a child who had just been offered free candy. "Oh thank you! I haven't done this in forever."

"Just try to remember what I taught you when you were twelve," he chimed while sitting down on the jump seat behind her.

Addie rounded on him, noting that he seemed slightly tense in his seat as if he were apprehensive about letting her have a go at the controls. She frowned sensing mentally his nervousness. "If you don't want me to do this, I mean really don't, I won't Doctor."

"No. No, just don't rush. If anything goes wrong I'll be there to help."

She gave him a sharp nod and broke the tension by giving him a salute. "Yes, sir. Will do, sir," she teased watching him roll his eyes and smirk at her before she turned once more towards the controls. If he had been standing beside her he would have more than likely given her a tap for her cheeky response to his serious comment.

Reaching out his foot, he pushed lightly at her backside. "Get to it, we haven't got all day."

With joyful laughter she began to work the controls with a little more finesse than the Doctor. It hadn't been only him who had taught her how to fly the TARDIS, it had been the ship herself, purring out instructions in her mind. She flipped down a switch which sent them reeling through the vortex in a slightly smoother ride than either of them had endured in quite some time.

The ship did jar a bit upon landing but nothing so severe that either of them fell or hurt themselves. With a smug grin she turned to see the Doctor giving her a proud look, not the look a parent would give a child but the look a man gives a woman when she's done something impressive. "Told you I could fly her better than you," she gloated.

"And right you are, not even a bruise on you."

She swatted him on the arm making them both laugh. She headed for the door and held it open for the Doctor to go first. She didn't even look outside before he stepped foot out the doors. When she stepped out she found it dark. Not as if they were in a dark room but as if they had stepped into the night, which, she noted, they had.

"Damn it all to hell. I screwed up." She kicked at the street, the tip of her shoe hitting a rock. "How long do you suppose we've been gone."

"A week, maybe more. The games are certainly over but we haven't over shot it too far." While he used the word 'we' she understood that he meant 'her' and was only being polite to keep her from blaming herself anymore than she already was going to.

"We can go back, retrace our steps so to speak," she added hopefully.

The Doctor shook his head. "Can't do that, we're part of the timeline now. If it had been a couple of decades in the past maybe or a different planet sure, but this close to where we were," he shook his head. "It's not possible."

"Damn it," she mumbled under her breath.

"Language Addie!" he chirped which once more earned him a small smack.

She huffed, "I'll say what I want. Not like I'm thirteen using my first swear word. Next thing I know you'll be chastising me about not being a virgin." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she realized what she had said and promptly turned three shades of red.

_Please don't comment! _She thought to herself making sure there was no lingering thought of the man before her in her mind. That was all she needed to add to her embarrassment.

When he said nothing she allowed herself to breathe. She looked up and down the street noting that no one was out. Odd, even in the nineteenth century it wasn't uncommon to have people running about after dark. "Do you think there have been more attacks since we were last here?"

"Yes, I do." He picked up a discarded paper from the previous day, scanned it quickly before passing it to Addie.

Upon first glance she didn't know what gave him such a definitive answer as to whether or not there had been any more attacks. It wasn't until she saw a small article with the title, 'Mysterious Creature On the Loose'. "Not the most creative title."

"It gets the point across, it really does. But what is it?" He thought out loud as Addie continued to read the paper.

"'This creature attacks in the blink of an eye, seemingly draining it's victim of their life force, blood and all.'" she quoted. "If this turns out to be a real live vampire, I will kiss you," she rambled out in pure excitement.

He rose his brow while grinning. "Sounds like an interesting incentive to prove that it is."

Addie felt her eyes widen in disbelief and shock at hearing him announce such a thing. She didn't really know how to react to the statement. She wasn't sure if he was kidding around or not, or even if she had been kidding or not. If he had been that was fine, she was used to that kind of teasing, but if he was; well, she could already feel her cheeks reddening at the thought. She didn't want to think about the flutter feeling in her stomach either.

She didn't get a chance to respond before a blood curdling scream ripped through the silent night air. They both stared at one another for a fraction of a second before they bolted in the direction of the sound. Addie, constrained by a dress and being shorter than the Doctor, was several feet behind as they ran down the empty street. If anyone else heard the scream they didn't respond.

The duo rounded the corner of an alley coming to a halt in front of the husk of a body left behind by the same creature who had taken the life of the first victim weeks ago. Yet this time Addie knew who the victim was. She could tell by the dark hair and small build. The current victim was Katrina, the sister of the man who had first been killed.

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Review Please!**

**A/N: Soooo as you all know I have a poll on my page. Please take a look and vote. It will be open until Feb. 1st. I will be forever grateful if you voted! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. It's a little later than I wanted to post it. Next chapter should be up this weekend! (don't hold me to that though, it might be slightly late due to college classes!)**


	8. Chapter 8

_Hello once more. I want to thank everyone who has read this story or favorited it or put it on their alert list. You guys make my day! _

_Enjoy the chapter! Feed back is welcome!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, however much I wish I did. I own Addie and the plot as well as anything that is not recognizable from the show!_

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

Addie felt as if the ground was giving way beneath her feet as time began to slowly pass before her eyes. She felt blindly for the wall behind her, her back slamming against it before she slid down to the ground. When she felt her backside connected with the cold damp ground the alley, she pulled her knees up to her chest until she was curled in a rather uncomfortable ball. She kept murmuring 'no', over and over, until it became a mantra.

"I can save her," she whispered softly, her voice barely breaking through the silence of the alley. The city was as silent as the middle of space and all she could hear was the pounding of her duel hearts in her chest as her mind raced to solve the problem put before her. "I can go back, save her. She wasn't meant to die." Her voice was still soft but loud enough that it cut through the air like a knife.

The Doctor dropped to his knees in front of her, gripping her shoulders tightly until her eyes met his. In his eyes she could see the truth swirling in their depths, the painful truth that she was trying so hard to avoid seeing. Dropping her gaze she blocked her mind, slammed a barrier up without even realizing what she was doing. In that moment it was pure instinct to put that wall between them. She didn't want to hear what he was thinking, what he was saying. She didn't want him to be right. He couldn't be, not this time.

He shook her once, twice, thrice, trying to get her to look him in the eyes, to let her past that barrier he could feel in her mind. "Addie, look at me. Let me in. I can show you that you can't help her."

"I can!" Addie's voice broke as she shouted now, shoving his hands off her. When she finally did meet his gaze, she saw his look, his sympathy clear in his dark brown eyes. She snarled, "Don't look at me like that! You can't tell me you aren't thinking the same thing!"

He backed up a step, having never seen this side of the young woman before him even as a teenager. "Addison, her death is a fixed point. We can't go back and save her."

"But that—thing," she spat while flinging her arm out in the direction of Kat's body. "It killed her!"

"No it didn't. Look at her," he motioned with his hand towards the body as well. "She wasn't drained by the creature, not at first that is. She was stabbed Addie, stabbed in the jugular. She bleed out. A human did this, the creature was just a form of clean up. You can't blame yourself and we can't change this point. She's gone."

Addie shook her head, her hair flying from it's twist at the back of her head. "It can't be true Doctor. I couldn't have let her die. I could have helped her! I still can!" She shouted, feeling the sting of unshed tears in her eyes as memories of her family roared to the front of her mind.

"Addie! This is a fixed point. You know this just as well as I do. You can sense it," he implored her to believe, to listen to some reason. He knew she was breaking down, knew this had been a bad idea. He should have left her alone, never entered her life again. She would have survived that night in the street and she would have gone home drunk, passed out, and woken up confused with some bruises and scratches. She would have eventually forgotten about him, moved on with her life the best she could being what she was. She would have started a family of her own. She could have had a life free of worry. But here she sat, in an alley in the middle of the eighteen hundreds in Greece crying over a dead girl she had only talked to for five minutes. He wasn't worth her attention, he only caused her pain as he did all his companions in the end.

"No," Addie whispered viciously. "You are more than worth my attention, you haven't caused me pain. You never have and you never will."

"Addie, you shouldn't have—" he started but watched as her hand rose into the air stopping him from speaking.

"No, Doctor, I wasn't listening for you. You were screaming in my mind what you were thinking whether you knew it or not. You broke through my barrier, smashed it to pieces actually." She took a deep breath, blew it out through her nose trying to calm herself and her ragged emotions. "This is my issue Doctor, my hang up as Lilly would say. I have to work though this again. It's been a decade, I ha—have to remember to get a feel for the points in time we visit."

He simply nodded as he reached his hand out towards her. He allowed himself a small grin as Addie grasped it, as if it was her last lifeline. He felt the tremor in her hand giving away the calm which had fallen over her face."Thank you," she breathed out before releasing his hand and getting to her feet on her own. He joined her once more wrapping his hand around hers tugging her towards the body.

"Tell me what you feel, how you know that this moment is fixed."

With a soft shake of her head and a gentle tug of her hand from his, she backed up. She didn't want to go anywhere near the body, not yet if she could help it. "I still can't tell if the moment is fixed or not. I just," she stalled shaking her head a little more forcefully and wrapping her arms around herself. "I don't know," she blurted out. "It just feels solid, heavy almost. A feeling of it being locked, as if it can't flow. The sand in an hourglass unable to pass through to the bottom. A fixed point in time which cannot be changed."

"Then you understand this cannot be changed Addie. She can't be saved. We can only help to find the humans and the creature that has been terrorizing this city." His voice was still even, soft, so unlike the giddy man he had been just before they had heard Kat's scream from the street.

Addie blinked a couple of times as what he said finally sank in. "So you're telling me that this isn't just an alien creature but humans as well?" Curiosity was beginning to take hold, her old self starting to take control pushing out the turmoils emotions, allowing a more levelheaded detached feeling to take hold.

He nodded. "Yes, probably the same ones you talked to the last time we were here."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. She tried not to tell herself once more that she could have done something to save the poor girl. The moment was fixed, she knew that now. "I hate this, not being able to help. I thought that we could help her and I was wrong. So, so very wrong."

"I can tak—"

Addie's head whipped up, her eyes blazing darkly. "Don't you dare finish that sentence! I am not going home. I'm not a girl, I'm not a child Doctor. I'm a grown woman by most definitions. I might not be an adult Time Lord but I am an adult mentally and I can handle this stuff. Just let me readjust." She tried to smile at him, hoping that she succeeded. "You look at the body, see if you can get any more traces of the creature and I'll take a look around and see if I can find anything."

"Do you need—"

She pulled her sonic out of her top, grinning when he gave her a dumbstruck expression. "They're like your pockets, I can hide just about anything in my cleavage if I arranged things the proper way. I've got by mobile in here as well," she teased as she too pulled that from between her breasts.

He just grinned at her, happy to see her back to her normal self somewhat. "Go about your business," he waved her away thinking wisely not to fall into her trap of teasing. He felt a slap on his arm and shoved back at her, earning a laugh in response.

Addie shook her head, once more sending hair falling around her face. She stuffed her sonic and mobile back where it had come from, pulled her hair from it's twist and settling on pulling it up into a messy makeshift bun which would hold through the most rigorous marathon run. With the Doctor it was quite possible that was what she would be doing before the end of the night, before the end of the hour even.

Hearing the whir of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver as he inspected the body of Katrina, she bit her lip and began to head towards that mouth of the alley. To her surprise that street was still empty. There wasn't even horse and carriages wandering out looking for a fare. The only other place she had been that was as quiet as the this city was the middle of the universe, so far from any planet yet so close to touching the stars. How could a single creature scare a city to the point that no one dared walk the street after sun down?

_This isn't normal, _she mumbled to the Doctor in her mind, not wanting to voice her concerns of the lack of people milling about. It made her uncomfortable, more than she cared to admit.

_Not normal at all, _the response came. "Addie, come here," he called out loud causing her to stand ramrod straight. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to see the body. Dead people usually didn't bother her, dead people she had known often did bother her.

"Coming," she whispered as she walked from the mouth of the alley until she came to crouch beside a squatting Doctor. She felt herself tremble for a moment as she looked down at the girl slumped against the brick wall.

She had been drained, a husk of the person she had once been. It was the same as the last victim yet something was off, something just slightly different than with the other victim they had seen. She didn't look as drained as she could have been, as if the creature had realized she wasn't fully alive when he was attacking her. "What?" Addie finally asked after having looked at the body.

"Look," he moved the woman's hair out of the way exposing her neck. There Addie saw what appeared to be the stab wound, the same one the Doctor had mentioned earlier. "She was stabbed but what is wrong with this picture?"

"No blood or bruising. The would looks old, but then again she is a dried out husk right now." She winced at her own callous words. Feeling the Doctor's hand grip hers and squeeze she tried to smile but found herself only frowning. She didn't let go of his hand though and he didn't move away. He was offering comfort in the only real way he knew how to give it to her at that moment: a physical connection. She could feel that in her mind. "So someone most certainly killed her before she was attacked, or she had been dieing when the thing attacked her."

"She was attacked before the creature got a hold of her, that was the scream we heard. She was stabbed in the jugular and the carotid. She would have bled out rather quickly, under three minutes I'd say. We heard her scream, she was attacked, and then it took us a minute to get from the TARDIS to the alley."

Addie spared him a glance as she tried to figure it out on her own. "The first victim was killed in under thirty seconds, right in front of a dozen or more people. Why did it take longer this time than the last time?"

"I believe that's because the creature is being controlled in some manner. We need to learn who else was killed in the time span we were away."

"How do you suppose we do that?" she questioned as she wondered what they were to do with the body. She rose to her feet as did the Doctor.

"Read the papers, talk to people," Addie snorted but he continued on without breaking his pace. "Break into Katrina's place and see what her flatmates and cousins have been up to." He finished watching as his companion looked once more at the latest victim.

Pulling her into a hug he cradled her in his body feeling her shake with the urge to scream, or cry. Either way he was glad she had a reaction. The day she no longer reacted to the sight of a dead body was the day he worried she had become the thing he feared most when it came to those he traveled with. "We'll go to the police, let them know of the attack. Her death won't go unnoticed, I promise you."

Addie nodded against his chest, feeling the soft cloth of his well worn coat rub against her cheek. She simply clung to him for a moment, the need for physical contact overwhelming. She refused to cry, refused to scream, refused to break. Her brain yelled at her that this was not the life she had wanted, not the life she would have chosen had it not been for that fateful night the Doctor had come to call when her life had been in danger at the age of five. Even the first ten years of her life with the Doctor hadn't been full of death, just a little bit of danger.

A couple of minutes passed before she released him and took a breath. "We need to get into Kat's flat. Her flatmates had to be apart of this. I had a feeling when I went to Kat's flat. It just didn't feel right, like something was off inside there." She thought for a moment. It wasn't more than an hour ago when they had been standing in front of that door but it felt like an eternity. "You said that there was no alien activity, at least none that your sonic could pick up. How can they be connected to this alien creature without there being some kind of trace evidence?"

"They aren't housing the alien inside the flat, they are keeping it somewhere else."

"But they're human."

"That doesn't meant that humans can't control an alien. They could be from the future, these humans."

"Time travelers like us?" she questioned as she cast one last glance at Katrina's form. She felt guilty for leaving the girl behind but they had to find out who and what was doing this. They couldn't let this thing roam the city any longer that it already had.

He nodded taking her hand in his, lacing his fingers through hers. "They could be Time Agents."

Her brows furrowed at the unfamiliar term. "Time Agents? What are those?"

"People from the fifty first century, spread out through the universe. They were agents who hopped through time removing rouge elements. They were disbanded in the fifty second century, however. They had these wrist straps called vortex manipulators, which kind of work like the TARDIS, allowing the user to use the vortex to skip through time." He explained.

"Then if they are Time Agents, it's quite possible that these people aren't causing the issues but trying to get rid of it. They might be doing what we're trying to do," she said watching as the Doctor looked at her with a contemplative look.

"You could be right. Katrina herself and her 'brother' could have been Time Agents which would explain the more secretive side of those residing in the flat. It would also explain while both Katrina and this other man were killed. The creature could know they are on to it." He rambled out, his speech becoming faster as his mind worked on this new theory.

"I wonder if the other victims were connected to Katrina and her flat," she said out loud, more to herself rather than the Doctor. "However," she started rather suddenly seconds later, her voice loud on the empty street. "When I talked to a baker a couple of blocks off from where Katrina was living, he acted as if she had been there for a while."

"It wouldn't be much of a stretch to think Katrina and her group have been here for a while, especially if this creature landed here somehow. They could have followed it through space and time before losing track of it when it was on the ground. They've had to lay low, I would guess."

"This is all speculating that they are, rather were, Time Agents. And if they are, I can't say they've been doing a good job." She kicked at the ground absentmindedly to keep herself busy while they talked and walked.

Several minutes passed as they walked back in the direction of the TARDIS. "I think I should change," she mentioned spontaneously.

He looked down at her, confusion clouding his features trying to figure out what was wrong with her outfit. "Why would you want to do that? You look lovely." He wasn't lying, she did look stunning.

With a half smile and roll of her eyes, she said, "Thank you, but if we're going to speak with Time Agents from the fifty-first century, wouldn't it be better if I didn't look like someone from this century? It would help in getting them to talk to us if I looked like someone from the future, even if I'm technically from their past." To anyone else that would have sounded insane, to her it was normal. "I'd be better off if my breasts weren't shoved to my throat and my ribs crushed by a corset anyways."

"You weren't complaining earlier. It isn't really that tight though, you seem to be able to move quite well." He teased lightly, watching her shake her head in exasperation though there was a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Not as easy as you might believe. I've worn enough of these as Halloween costumes to know how to move. Doesn't make it any easier really, plus this morning I wasn't expecting to have to run while constricted," she added as she shimmied around in the outfit, trying once more to find a comfortable position where it didn't feel like her lungs were in her throat.

He nodded in agreement. He hadn't expected to have to run, not yet that was. "We'll stop by the TARDIS then."

"Thank you."

00000000000000000

Fifteen minutes later Addie joined the Doctor back out on the street. She was dressed in a tee shirt and jeans, thankful for the fact that she could breath deeply without feeling the sting in her ribs. She fluffed at the ends of her hair before flipping it back over her shoulder. She wore it loose because of the headache starting to form at the base of her head from having worn it up for far to long. Her sonic was in her back pocket, her mobile stuffed in the shallower front pocket. She'd even gone so far as to stuff some candy in her pocket just on the off chance she needed something to nibble on. Candy wouldn't have been her first choice but it wasn't as if she could put a bag of crisps in her pants.

"Ready," she sang out as she linked her arm through his. She smiled at him while she watched as he shook his head. She noted he was smiling, which made her smile all the more. Watching that grin appear on his face brought her joy, because she hadn't often seen that smile when she had first traveled with him. Sure he had smiled but never had it truly reached his eyes. Now it seemed like every smile he gave her, whether it was when he was comforting her or joyous, it shone in his eyes. She liked that about this new Doctor.

They walked at a rather sedate pace. This gave Addie the assumption that he was giving her time to prepare herself for whatever they were about to meet on the other side of the door of the home of at least two of the victims. She didn't need the time, being away from the body helped immensity. She would kick who's ever ass she needed to kick and she wouldn't feel bad about it at all.

"You seem better," the Doctor prompted as they came to stand in front of the door Addie had been standing at not too long ago. She took a hard look at the door before giving herself the time to respond to the Doctor. The door was the same door, a little worse for wear, which made her wonder what had happened in the week time span they had supposedly been gone.

Running her hand along the door, feeling the peeling paint, she spoke, "Being away from the body helps. Death was never my strong suit, even at the hospitals I worked at. I worked trauma, which considering my aversion to death, put me in a rather tough spot. Thankfully I had to work on my feet, much like I do now." She spared him a glance and grin before turning her attention back to the door.

"Something seems off," she murmured while running a finger along a part of the wood which appeared to have been scratched. "Like a cat clawed at the door. Kiva used to scratch at my door back in London, made the same kind of marks only smaller."

"A cat still could have made those marks, a dog maybe," the Doctor suggested while leaning in to examine the marks. "Too small for a cat, like you said," he blurted out making her chuckle.

"I'm always right but that's besides the point. A dog could have made the marks but they are too sharp. Even a wolf's claws won't get that sharp. The talons of a raptor maybe but I would say they are similar to a feline." She explained, pulling on the knowledge she had in her mind. She loved animals, had even taken a few animal specific courses while in university.

The Doctor nodded and stood up. "The creature could have talons or claws."

"If the creature had claws why wouldn't they use them to attack the victims? From what I've seen this thing simply drains them and leaves in a blink of an eye. It's like nothing I've seen and I'm doubting you've seen anything like this either." She stood right along side him with her head canted to the side still looking at the scratches.

"They are fresh though," the Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic to take a reading from the door. While the sonic was whirring away he continued speaking, "I would guess they were put there in the last twenty four hours, possibly less than twelve."

Addie stood there, not sure what to do with herself. If she had actually thought about it she would have taken her sonic screwdriver and taken a reading before the Doctor had gotten the chance to do that on his own. She was beginning to feel a tad bit useless but she knew it would take a little while longer to get into the swing of things with the Doctor. So she just stood there and waited.

A moment later the Doctor flicked the sonic, looking at the reading. "Odd, these scratches are overlapped."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning theses aren't the first ones to be put on the door in the last week. They weren't here a week ago."

She shook her head in response. "Are they alien though?"

He nodded. "Yep, same creature as the one attacking people. Same biological reading."

"And there's no way for us to find out through that biological reading what creature this is? Not even where it might be from?" she asked, impatient to get on with the investigation. The sooner this was said and done they could go somewhere that didn't involve death.

The Doctor ran a hand over his face after stowing his sonic in a pocket of his coat. "I had the TARDIS read the sample from the first killing that night you were sleeping. She couldn't turn up anything, not even a blip. She always turns up something, even a blip."

"So this is something you've never come across before, something that hasn't been classified?"

"A rogue element which isn't suppose to be here," he mumbled to himself. "That would explain the Time Agent theory."

With a grin giving away a bit of her more mischievous nature, Addie turned to the Doctor. "Shall we knock?" She raised her fist as she asked, holding it just above the damaged door, her brow raised as if in a dare.

"Go right a head." He grinned back at her. He heard her slight laugh just as there came a masculine scream from inside the flat. Her head whipped around, her eyes going wide with fear and a little bit of excitement.

He grabbed for her hand just as they heard the sound of at least four people running from the back of the building. The door whipped open in front of them, giving them a glance of three woman and two men. They stared in fear and anger at the Doctor and Addie. "Run you fools!" They shouted pushing the two of them out of the way.

In the split second it took for the two of them to decide to do as they were told, they caught a look of the creature. Addie had been right on the talons, or claws rather, while the Doctor had been correct on the fact that it did indeed resemble what one would think a true vampire looked like. It was pale, ashen almost with a tint of peach underneath the skin, it had sharp fangs, and it was at least five and a half feet. It was humanoid in shape and build but alien nonetheless.

"Run!" The Doctor shouted tugging her hand pulling her off the stoop and into the street follow the five other people fleeing the flat. She wasted no time joining him in running for her life. In that moment she felt so alive; so very alive and so very scared.

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Review Please!**

**A/N: First I have a poll on my profile page, please take a second to vote. I would really appreciate it. It closes Feb. 1st. Secondly I want some input. I'm not sure how this story is going. I mean I love it and all but I'm not so sure if you all are enjoying it. This isn't a cry for reviews or anything like that. I truly want to know the honest truth about what you guys think about this story. **

**Until next time my dears!**


	9. Important Author's Note

**Note from the Author!**

Hello my dears. I have been trying to work out how to explain this without upsetting you all. First off I want to tell you that I have not given up on this story!

I just kind of wanted to throw an idea out there for any and all of my readers who are reading this story. I was thinking, because I'm not sure how I like the whole AU idea that this story is based on, that maybe I could rework this in a manner then follows the show somehow. Addie will still be Addie and she'll still be who she is but I was thinking of making it follow the storyline of the show, like from the very beginning of the new seasons.

I just feel that I could somehow make this better if I did that. I know there are those of you who have come to love this version of the story as much as I have and I don't want anyone of you getting upset. I mean my current idea is kind of pedestrian in some ways while if I wrote a version of it following the show it could be a hundred times better.

But I want your input. I don't just want to do this without giving some warning or hearing what you guys have to say. You are my readers and I want to make you happy. So please let me know what you think. In the meantime I'll continue writing on this particular version of the story because I actually still have ideas that are raging around my mind like rabid monkeys. Yes I said rabid monkeys. Lol.

Anyways I'm looking forward to hearing from you all. I'm willing to answer any and all questions put towards me concerning this story.

Thank you for your time and for reading this story. I love it just as much as you do! You are the reason I keep writing!

~_Midnight Angel414 _


End file.
